Crimson Dusk
by FromAnotherWorld
Summary: Sometimes you only wish for something until you get it. Krystal is longing for an adventure but when her dream comes true she soon has to learn that it in fact is her worst nightmare. Desperately fighting for the existence of her world, for her family's lives and for her own survival she faces a force far too great to stand a chance against. (The destruction of Cerinia)
1. Longing for the stars

AN: This chapter is basically just an introduction. The actual action will start in the next one.

**Crimson Dusk**

**Longing for the stars**

Now that the sun had set the blistering heat of the summers in the grasslands of Cerinia had eased off being replaced by a much more moderate warmth making it easier to breathe and move around. This was part of the reason why Krystal didn't even think of going to sleep but was sitting on a rock a little away from the other people of her tribe enjoying the calmness of a moment of solitude. Marveling the stars she found it extremely easy to get completely lost in her thoughts and to forget about every problem or anything that might have been bothering her.

Yet at the same time that she felt completely relaxed indulged in the peaceful quiet with nothing but the rustling of the wind and the distant cries of a few animals and sounds of her tribe audible she felt a strange longing and restlessness. This world, this universe, it all was so endlessly far and wide beyond her imagination and all she would ever know was this little place on Cerinia she called home, with the ever same daily routines. She loved her family and the well-being of all the people in her tribe was of great importance to her but sometimes she couldn't help longing for something far far away and unknown without even knowing what it was she was wishing for. At times her life could seem sooo boring and, even though she was the daughter or the headman of the tribe, meaningless. Furthermore she couldn't imagine how to find a partner in her tribe... there were a few males she got along well with who were nice to talk to, but no one she thought she could ever love.

Krystal had been sitting on her rock, one of her favorite places if she needed to be alone for a while, doing nothing but watching the stars for quite some time when suddenly a rustling closely behind her disturbed her and made her turn round. There was Amber at the bottom of the rock slightly panting as she started to climb up.

Amber was Krystal's little sister and best friend. Their faces looked astonishingly similar to each other although the blue of Amber's fur was a lot lighter than Krystal's and her eyes were of the warm and calming color of molten honey. However, their face was where the physical similarities ended. While Krystal was slim but of athletic built, Amber's body looked incredibly delicate and fragile as if even the lightest waft could harm her, and this impression was not so untrue. Having been born with a heart-defect she couldn't run or only walk farther distances or do anything that was straining, even if only a little. Stress, fear and everything else that would force her heart to beat faster was dangerous for her and sometimes she would just lie flatly on her back and pant for breath for no reason.

Everyone in the family and Amber herself knew that she wasn't going to grow old and at times this certainty filled them all with deep sorrow and fear whenever her conditions seemed to be worse on one day than the day before but somehow she had always recovered again so far. Actually the one member of Krystal's family who seemed to fear Amber's death the least was Amber herself. Last month they all had thought the end had finally come but Amber had simply tried to smile. Her expression had looked pained and she had hardly been able to talk but she had seemed fearless and confident as she had told them she didn't want them to be sad and that she was ready to go, that she had been all her life and that she wished them nothing but happiness. Krystal couldn't remember to have ever felt only nearly as much pain as at that moment she had been watching her sister weakly pant for breath thinking her life would be over and, maybe, even though she'd never want to admit it to herself this was part of the reason why she sometimes just wanted to be as far away from this place as possible.

As Krystal saw Amber struggling up the rock she got up and climbed down to the level of her sister to help her. It took Krystal only a moment to reach Amber but instead of accepting the help Krystal was offering her Amber merely gave her a stubborn grin. "I can do this on my own." she panted. In spite of Amber's carefree determined attitude Krystal could still see and sense that she was having difficulties. She often tried to hide it from her family when she was feeling bad not wanting them to worry but by now Krystal had gotten quite good in telling how her sister was actually feeling. Yet, most of the time it was Amber's breath and her conditions that gave her away and not so much her expression, emotion or thoughts as she could hide them quite well, being a more talented telepath than Krystal.

Whenever Amber's breath went irregular or strained Krytal felt an icy fear inside her chest and this time was no exception. Luckily she could soon feel the relief as the both of them reached the top of the rock without Amber breaking down.

"Quite a marvelous sight." Amber noted as they sat down next to each other looking at the sky.

Krystal nodded dreamily. "Yes, sometimes I wonder what all those worlds up there look like. It's all so endlessly big and far."

"Again?" Amber ask with a slightly crooked smile. "Father says you spend too much time looking at the stars and dreaming of things that are no good for you instead of living in our own world."

"I know, it's just, there's so much more out there. Do you never wonder what lies beyond our world?"

"I... no not really. We have everything we need here. This wide far space out there is all a little ominous and creepy, don't you think?"

"But fascinating." Krystal breathed. "The people here tell stories that there are people out there too much like ourselves, just they are dressed in awkward stuff and flying around in containers. I'd like to meet them one day."

"Meet them?! You do know that they are also said to be dangerous. We're better off if they stay away." Amber exclaimed in shock.

"Maybe you're right." Krystal shrugged remembering not to upset her sister, or basically her entire tribe if they could hear her right now. Yet she couldn't help longing for something that could only be found far far away.

The sounds of their tribe in the distance were growing lower. "I think they're all going to sleep now." Amber noted. "Maybe we should go back and sleep too."

Krystal nodded. "Yes, it's time we go back."

"And tomorrow we shall find a boyfriend for you." Amber added her grin almost spreading from one of her ears to the other.

"Amber, you know I couldn't imagine any of them being the right one for me." Krystal sighed.

"You know you are awfully choosy. What about Sapphire ? I tell ya he's totally into you. He spends all day and night thinking and dreaming of nothing but you." Amber told her enthusiastically.

"All day and night, really? How would you know?" Krystal wondered.

"See I'm a pretty good telepath, and honestly it's not even necessary to have any telepathic abilities at all to tell that he's totally, absolutely, crazily into you. Thistle got quite some interest in you too, though, but looking at his mind I'd definitely say Sapphire is the better guy." Amber explained.

"And you got nothing better to do than snooping around in peoples heads all day, huh?" Krystal wanted to know.

"Pretty much true, yes." Amber answered empathizing her statement with a vivid grin as they reached the bottom of the rock and started to slowly walk back to their village.

"What about you find a boyfriend for yourself instead?" Krystal suggested returning her sister's smile.

"No, come on. You are the older one of us. We need to find one for you first." Amber reasoned in her usual joyous manner but Krystal had to slow her pace down not to leave her sister behind as she realized she was short of breath again. It was like a stab in her chest. They could talk or laugh together but at some point something would always happen that reminded Krystal of the fragile vixen's illness.

Slightly staggering Amber went on and then stopped looking to the ground. In this moment as she saw her sister sit down on the ground too weak to walk on Krystal held her breath swaying a little herself. 'No not now, please not now' was all she could think as she kneeled down next to her trying to help her. "Amber." she gasped.

"I'm alright." her sister replied. Her voice was trembling a little but she put on a brave face and tried to smile as she always did when her chest hurt her and she couldn't breathe. Luckily, as fast as it had started it was over again and Amber was able to relax adding genuineness to her smile. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. When the time comes it'll be alright. That's another reason why I better don't have a boyfriend. I couldn't do this to him." she explained trying to get back to her feet.

"Amber, wait. Don't hurry." Krystal worried holding her sister by the arm to prevent her from falling down.

"It's alright. I can go on now. No need to worry." Yet Amber's words did little to calm Krystal down and she was constantly watching out to make sure she wouldn't fall over again.

Slowly they walked on. Amber soon seemed to have forgotten about her recent faintness again pointing at a shooting star in excitement. "Look, Krystal, how pretty!"

Krystal tried to smile herself but it didn't come off as happy. "Yes, it's pretty." she replied. Seeing how vivid and excitable Amber was it sometimes was hard to believe that she was terminally ill and at the same time Krystal could never forget.

Soon they reached the village falling quiet not to wake anyone up walking towards their family's hut. It was only now that Krystal realized how tired she really was. It wouldn't take long to fall asleep tonight, even though her worries about Amber made it difficult to find peace.


	2. Arrival of aliens

**Crimson dusk**

**Arrival of aliens**

The next morning Krystal awoke to the sound of quarreling children and it was absolutely no surprise to her that one of the voices was her little brother Topaz. With a groan she rolled over trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Shaking her head to clear the drowsiness out of her mind she got up and stepped towards the exit of the hut. Whenever there was a fight between some children in her village, it seemed, her brother was somewhat involved and almost every time, it seemed, he was the cause of the fight. Obviously her parents weren't present right now which made her responsible to lecture her little brother.

Also Amber was getting up now following Krystal outsides where they found Topaz pressing another boy his age to the ground with some of Topaz's friends standing around, watching and shouting insults. Another boy was entangled in a fight with one of Topaz's friends and a little girl was standing next to them crying and furiously yelling at him to let her brother go while she was throwing stones at Topaz.

"Topaz!" Krystal shouted angrily pulling her brother off of the other child. "What are you doing here?!"

"What are you doing here?! Mind your own business!" Topaz hissed kicking around. "Let go of me!" but there was no way she'd let him get away with it that easily.

Instead she shook her little brother repeating "What Are You Doing Here?!"

"Nothing, he deserved it." Topaz replied with a snarl trying to pull free from his elder sister's grip.

"So, did he? And what made him deserve it?"

"He's annoying. That made him deserve it." Topaz stated his glare intensifying.

"Stop bullying other children. You are not constantly getting into fights because everyone is always mean towards you but because you are always mean to everyone. Otherwise it'd be people stronger than you you get in trouble with and not always people weaker than you." she put clear to before releasing him from her grip.

"So what? It's none of your businesses. I may do what I want." he argued before turning round and leafing. "Come on, let's go. Such a stupid sister!" Topaz told his friends.

With a sigh of frustration Krystal sat down in front of the hut. On the one hand she couldn't tolerate Topaz's behavior but on the other hand she also knew it was his way of coping. Ever since Amber's condition had gotten worse and since he had gotten to know that she was going to die he was like that. He was just looking for an outlet for all his emotional pain and wasn't really as nasty and selfish as he often seemed to be and after all he still was a child.

Amber took a seat next to Krystal looking as if she wanted to say something but then she suddenly paused with an alarmed look on her face.

"Amber?! Is something wrong?" Krystal gasped.

"Don't you sense that?" Amber panted. "There's a force but, I've never felt anything like that. It seems to be a person; yet at the same time it isn't and I can't read it's thoughts. They're ominous and don't speak my language and there's something mighty about it, yet it's weak at the same time. There are colors, strange colors."

In utter confusion Krystal tried to sense the thing Amber was talking about. She vaguely felt something, something scary but couldn't tell what it was. There was a strange presence, somewhere, but she couldn't locate it. "Alright. That's indeed weird." she replied in fright. She never had sensed anything similar to this and she never had heard anyone talk about anything similar to this.

Krystal jumped up and looked around. Some of the other people around who had decent telepathic abilities had the same expression on their face Amber and she herself had and were either staring into the sky or frantically looking around.

"There's something else coming, but those are clear objects and not just some weird consciousness and energy." Amber noted just as Krystal started to sense it too. Between twenty and thirty solid objects where approaching the surface of Cerinia from high above with great speed, however, as they came closer Krystal realized that it weren't only those objects but that there were living-beings in them much like the people in her tribe and yet fundamentally different. They definitely were people, though, just they didn't think the way Cerinian people thought, they had a strange language and Krystal meant to be able to tell that they even felt somewhat different.

"I'll go find out what it is." Krystal put on a determined expression starting to run towards the solid objects that were coming down but Amber's panicky voice stopped her.

"Krystal wait! It could be dangerous!"

"I won't go too close, alright. I just want to see what it is." she tried to calm her sister.

"Then I'm going with you." Amber decided yet unable to hide the fear in her voice.

"No, Amber, please. I need to do this on my own. Please stay here." Krystal pleaded giving her sister an apologizing look before she took off towards the objects that were coming down. As Krystal left Amber behind she couldn't help feeling twinges of guilt but Amber couldn't run and Krystal couldn't risk putting her sister in any danger.

Running past confused and scared people Krystal approached the edge of the village stopping and holding her breath for a moment as she reached it seeing between twenty and thirty metal objects fall out of the clouds decelerating as they came closer to the ground. As they had touched down she could see some hatches open and people emerged from within those metal objects. Were those... aliens? They looked like people, at least from the distance, though they looked different to the people in her village. At this moment Krystal didn't know if she should feel deeply scared or be bursting with excitement.

Slowly the whole tribe started gathering at the edge of the village watching the aliens move around and finally also Amber, Topaz and Krystal's parents arrived. So those were aliens, but what was the other thing that had arrived with them?

For a moment Krystal meant to sense the deep worry of her father but he wouldn't let himself show any weakness. Many of the other people around had started talking to each other all being more or less flustered and frightened making Krystal think she was the only one who felt beside those two emotions also a touch of enthusiasm.

"Listen." her father's voice interrupted the gabbling of the other people making them fall quiet in an instant. "Our village might be in great danger. No one is to go any closer to those aliens. We will have guards placed around the village to warn the rest of us should they mean any harm in us and to be ready to defend ourselves should we need to. We won't seek any conflict with those people but we can not know if their intentions are peaceful and therefore need to stay careful and be prepared for whatever might come. We..."

While everyone was paying attention to her father's words Krystal decided to silently sneak away. She couldn't help satisfying her curiosity and after all, wasn't the fear of her tribe a little exaggerated? She knew she was doing exactly what her father had forbidden all the people of the tribe only a moment ago and she indeed felt a little guilty about it, but after all she wasn't really putting herself at any danger and no one would ever find out. She was merely having a closer look at those aliens. Maybe they weren't even that bad and even if they were it was better to find out earlier than later, right?

Staying ducked Krystal went towards the landed space-ships using the high grass as cover. Now she finally felt the rush of excitement she had been waiting for kick in and make her heart pound like mad inside her chest. She always had wanted to know how life and people were like on other planets and this was her chance to find out a little more about them.

As she was close enough to the first space-ships to hear the strange people's words she crouched down deciding to stay there for a while and watch. Those were a whole lot of strange people, mainly apes and lizards, though. They were speaking a language she didn't understand and almost their whole bodies were covered in an awkward kind of clothing. Eager to see and perceive everything as closely as possible and to take in every little detail Krystal slipped yet a little closer.

Now that she wasn't that far away from the aliens anymore it also was easier to read their minds, however she didn't really know what to make of it. Everything they thought in words wasn't understandable to her which didn't surprise her as she didn't speak their language but also their whole mindset and feelings were odd in a thoroughly fascinating, jet intimidating way. They seemed to have completely different values and traits of thoughts than everyone whose mind she had seen so far and they seemed to completely lack any telepathic abilities.

High of the excitement that came with everything that was there to see, to hear, to find out and to learn Krystal easily forgot that she had resolved to be careful and crept closer to the strange people eager to take in even more information. Using her telepathy it wasn't difficult to tell if anyone had realized her presence or was suspecting something but so far no one payed even the slightest bit of attention to her allowing her to get really close to the space-ships.

Two lizards and one ape were only a couple of meters away from her engrossed in their conversation as she was watching them from within the high grass she used as cover. One of the lizards was wildly gesticulating with his arms empathizing his words while the ape was listening closely and the other lizard was shaking his head in disbelieve as another ape came out from behind one of the space-ships with an angry look on his face making the three of them stop talking and disappear into different directions. Krystal heard the ape who had chased the other three aliens away curse in his awkward language as he too went back to whatever he had been doing before.

Now there were no people around anymore, however, the door of one of the space-ships was open tempting Krystal to have a look at its interior. Should she dare to? Chewing on her lip she was pondering this idea for a moment. It was risky and she had planned to not take any risks, yet she had never seen one of those things from inside and it had caught her curiosity. For a moment she thought she should be sensible and let it be, but after all she was a telepath, wasn't she? She'd realize in time if anyone approached the space-ship, wouldn't she? The risks were calculable, right?

Fast but soundlessly Krystal rushed towards the open door having one last look around to make sure no one was seeing her and used her telepathy to help her before she entered the space-craft. The interior, much like the exterior, was made of metal with a lot of boxes standing around and two closed doors at opposite sides of the room. Curiously Krystal walked around trying to open the doors but they wouldn't move for an inch. After standing in front of a closed door for a moment she turned towards one of the many boxes. As she was already here she could quite as well have a look at what those people had taken with them.

Krystal kneeled down beside one of the boxes trying to get the lid off and was successful in doing so after a couple of failed attempts. There were strange objects in them Krystal had never seen before, however her instincts told her that they might be of potential danger and those objects were not the only danger her instincts warned her of. In fright Krystal looked up jumping to her feet and drawing her staff. While her mind had been occupied with the doors and the boxes she had disregarded the aliens and four of them where just about to enter the space-ship she was in.

In fright she jumped in between some boxes and ducked down praying not to be found but as the four men started moving some of the boxes around one of them was directly approaching her and there was nowhere she could have disappeared to.

Krystal pressed herself against the cool metal floor avoiding to make only the slightest sound or movement that could have given her away silently cursing her own stupidity and carelessness. If only she hadn't been foolish enough to enter the space-craft. If only she had listened to her father and never had come here. But you were always brighter when it was too late and therefore all she could do was hide and hope.

Then suddenly her telepathy told her that one of the men had abruptly stopped his pace in bafflement. She had been found. For a lack of other options Krystal jumped out from in between the boxes aiming her staff at the man who had discovered her which caught the attention of the other three. All of them drew some strange objects she didn't recognize and aimed them at her but their minds told her that they could kill her with them and she didn't stand a chance fighting.

Therefore Krystal didn't move aiming her staff at one of them trying to assess the situation with her telepathy. They all were surprised, to say the least, to find her there but that wasn't the thing that was most evident in their thoughts. Krystal didn't like the attitude with that they looked her up and down. She wouldn't have needed to be a telepath to feel deeply uneasy under their lascivious gazes.

AN: I know cliffhangers are mean, sorry, but this kind of was necessary. (just coz I am a mean person)

Yet due to my laziness and my extremely low level of motivation I can't guarantee for regular updates but as I've already written most of the chapters and they only need a huge revision before being published anymore I can say with an estimated likelihood of about 97% that I'll eventually finish this story.

Now you could tell me what you think of my story so far.

And please, if I repeatedly make one and the same grammar-error tell me 'cause I am not a native speaker and won't learn anything if no one corrects me.

Thanks for reading my story.


	3. As a self-appointed spy

AN: Sorry it took me so long to update but I had some personal matters to take care of.

I'd like to thank XxSanitariumxX, K. and Feuerstoss for their reviews. It really helps me a lot to regain some motivation and K. and Feuerstoss pointed some mistakes I frequently make out helping me to improve my writing (yet I'm quite sure I made a some very similar mistakes in this chapter too and didn't find them all reading it through one last time). Thanks a lot.

**Crimson dusk**

**As a self-appointed spy**

Krystal felt like a trapped animal. Insecurely she took a step back in an helpless attempt to find a way to escape. One of the four men standing in between her and the exit, an ape, said something to her she didn't understand but even so she could tell she didn't even want to understand.

In deviant determination to fight in spite of the futility of it combined with panicky fear Krystal aimed her staff at the ape snarling at him with a hateful glare. The male took a step towards her also aiming the thing in his hand he could kill her with at her forehead. She stumbled another step back as he reached for her ready to shoot at him but just at that moment the ape was punched by one of the other men, an iguana, and fell onto some of the boxes.

At first the vixen simply stood there in bafflement searching the two men's minds for any evidence as to what had just happened. She knew the monkey's intentions, however the iguana's action had come completely unexpected.

For a while she watched the both of them furiously yell at each other then the ape fell quite and the lizard turned towards her. "Hallo." he said in a language that was obviously meant to be Cerinian but due to his accent it took her a moment to realized he was trying to speak her mother tongue.

Though she stayed on guard Krystal lowered her staff as the aliens stopped aiming those things they held in their hands at her. "What are you do there?" the iguana ask his voice sounding calm, not in the slightest way hostile an Krystal couldn't find any malicious intentions on his mind either.

Even though she didn't just yet want to trust any of their intentions it made her feel a lot saver and her rapid heart-beat started to slow down. "I was just looking around because I was curious. I didn't mean any harm." She replied speaking as clearly as possible to make sure the lizard would understand her.

"Right, you do not be scared." he tried to calm her. "Nothing I will do to you."

His awkward tries to communicate with her almost made Krystal want to smile even though she still felt quite shaky. "May I leave now? I need to go home." she ask her face clearly displaying her unease.

"Sure may you. You do not be scared. You, if you still curious and not shocked you can come back later and I show you around." he offered stepping out of her way allowing her to go to the exit.

"Thank you. I'll think about it." she replied leaving the space ship in more of a hurry than she intended to and ran off. It took a while till she was far enough away from the aliens to feel completely save again. She definitely needed to be more careful as she knew this could easily have gone awfully wrong. Yet at the same time, now that she was back to safety, she couldn't help feeling absolutely euphoric. She had actually been there. She had actually seen the aliens with her very own eyes and no longer knew there were people living far far away from her world only from vague stories – she couldn't really help being quite disgusted in some of them though, but this did little to diminish her excitement.

Krystal would have liked to jump around in joy like a little child, while she was still trying to catch her breath at the same time, but she knew she would have attracted too much attention and needed to calm down. She couldn't let anyone see her before she was back in the village and she needed to hide the chaos that was her emotional state because now that everyone but her was worried or even in deep fear there was no way her awkward mixture of euphoria and shock would go unnoticed.

Struggling to bring her emotion back under control she approached the village in a slower pace, making sure the guards her father had placed everywhere around it wouldn't see or sense her. She still was too enthusiastic to calm down completely but no one who didn't specifically try to read her mind would realize.

"Krystal! Krystal!" A distressed voice called for her.

"Yes!" she replied in confusion. She hadn't been gone for that long. Had anyone noticed her absence?

"Krystal! Ah, there you are." the same voice replied in what seemed to be great relief. Sapphire turned up from behind one of the huts. Shit! He obviously had realized that she had gone missing. "Where have you been? We've been looking for you." the dark blue, almost black fox ask a faint smile spreading around his muzzle while he was slightly panting for breath.

"I, um, nowhere actually, just lost in thoughts." Krystal answered looking to the ground a little sheepishly hoping he would interpret this gesture as embarrassment about being unable to sense their worry and not as trying to hide something. "Who has been looking for me?"

"Your parents and me. They have been worrying and... well, as long as you are fine everything is alright." he explained but something in his voice and face told her that this was far from everything he wanted to say.

The blue vixen replied with a smile. "Yeah, um, I mean I possibly should tell them that I am fine then."

"Yes, they... will be worried." Sapphire confirmed.

"So now I've got to look for them and not just they have to look for me." Krystal laughed a little. What an awkward, crazy day. She could only hope her parents were as easy to convince that everything was fine as Sapphire had been.

Together they started walking through the village using their telepathy to find Krystal's parents. All of them using their telepathy it wasn't difficult to find each other and Krystal soon could see her mom approaching her.

"Krys! You're alright! I'm so glad nothing has happened to you!" her mother exclaimed pulling her into a tight hug.

"Yeah, mom. I am fine. Why should anything have happened to me, anyways?" Krystal replied burying her face in her mother's almost white slightly pinkish fur for a moment.

"I was just... you were no where to be found!"

"I... sorry. I was lost in thoughts and didn't realize you were looking for me. I should have been paying more attention." Krystal apologized and lied at the same time making the feeling of guilt return to her.

"Don't worry my dear. It's just, after all that had happened today, we were truly worried something might have happened to you." her mother explained almost crying in relief intensifying the twinges of guilt Krystal had to endure.

"Krystal." her father interrupted them in a more stern voice. "If you have been doing anything I've told you not to do, you gotta tell me now. This is way more serious and dangerous than you seem to realize."

Krystal looked at him faking a confused expression while trying to hide her true emotions. She had known it wouldn't be as easy to lie to him as it had been to lie to the others. He was a talented telepathy and being naive was something you couldn't accuse him of. "No, I haven't." she assured him.

"And you are absolutely sure about that." he questioned.

"Yes, absolutely." she repeated firmly. "If you all were looking for me Amber most certainly knows you thought I've been missing. I should have a look if she's alright." Krystal added partly because she really was worried and partly because it was a good excuse to get away from her father's questions.

"Alright. Go and tell Amber." he sighed. She could tell he didn't really trust her words, yet at the same time wasn't completely sure she wasn't speaking the truth.

"See ya all around." Krystal said walking away in a fast yet not hurried pace.

She easily found Amber where she had expected her to be. Amber was sitting in front of their home again already waiting for her. "So you have been there?" Amber ask with a wink.

"Where?" Krystal wanted to know though she could tell there was no point in denying anything to Amber.

"'Cmon; don't you even try." Amber replied with a mocking smile on her face that was soon replaced by a more serious expression. "You know that dad didn't tell all the people to stay away from there for no reason. It is dangerous, Krystal and I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I know." Krystal nodded. "It's just, I now get a chance to see and learn all this with my own eyes and senses. I just can't miss out on it." She knew Amber wouldn't share her point of view but she also knew she'd understand as she always did; like no one else had ever understood her. "And, yes there was a moment when it was frightening but being there and seeing everything from that close simply was exciting beyond anything else I've ever experienced." Krystal couldn't help getting a little carried away reliving her little adventure in her memories and mentally sharing it with her sister while watching out no one else was trying to spy on her thoughts.

At one point Amber looked pretty shocked but overall she could share Krystal's joy though not really approve of it. Yet there was one thing Krystal always had known. She could always at any time fully trust her sister with her secrets and anything else.

"Their minds are pretty bizarre." Amber shuddered when Krystal was finished showing her her story. "Though that iguana is quite cute."

"Yes, um I guess so but some of them are... simply disgusting." Krystal couldn't help feeling bouts of anger come up inside her chest thinking of that monkey. "But they're not all evil or, I don't actually think too dangerous either. I think dad is just exaggerating."

"I don't think dad is only worrying about the aliens." Amber noted. "There's still this force that arrived with them. I've been trying to find out what it is. I can sense it, but, I just can't seem to get any closer to the solution. It got a mind, a quite complex one indeed, yet much like a normal person with thoughts, emotions, perceptions, memories but at the same time it's not a person, not even a living-being in any way we'd know of. It clearly has a consciousness and it got some power but there's no way of telling what it really is capable of or what kind of intentions it has."

"But if it arrived with the aliens they possibly know more about it." Krystal considered. "maybe we could find something in their minds."

"That's difficult without understanding their language." Amber contradicted her slightly shaking her head and chewing on her lip.

"At least one of them speaks a little Cerinian. I could just ask him." Krystal suggested.

"No, Krystal! That's too dangerous! If they're really involved with that force they mightn't like us try to find anything out about it." Amber gasped her eyes widening in horror.

"Alright, then not but I could get to know more by talking to them anyway. I'll just have to try in a more subtle way then. They're no telepaths after all." she replied.

Amber didn't seem to like that idea all too much but she nodded anyway "Just, no matter what you do you have to promise me you'll be careful. Please, Krystal don't do anything stupid. You know I couldn't bear it if anything ever happened to you. You know mom and dad couldn't bear it. Please, no matter what you do, be careful."

"Alright." Krystal agreed. "We'll do this together. I'll go there and see what I can find out and you'll help me with your telepathy."


	4. Flight lessons

AN:Sorry it took me so long to update. I've been on holidays for two weeks and then didn't have any properly working computer for two more weeks, and the fifth week between this and the last update, well, that was just laziness.

Thanks for the reviews, Order and Chaos, Qui Iudicant and K.S. Reynard.

**Crimson Dusk**

**Flight lessons**

For the second time Krystal was approaching the space-ships the aliens had landed not too far away from her village. The excitement and nervous fear of entering their area once more caused her heart to pound faster in her chest and sharpened her senses. She now had a reason better than just satisfying her curiosity to return there, yet she couldn't deny how very much her original motive to have come here was still present in her thoughts.

Just far enough away to be sure no one would realize her presence Krystal stopped and waited hidden in the high grass that was growing everywhere as far as one could see. The iguana she had met the other day had offered her to show her around, however, she would first need to find him. It wasn't easy to spot a single person among many even using telepathy unless you knew this person well or he or she had very distinct thought patterns.

As neither was the case right now Krystal needed to concentrate hard trying to find something that felt familiar. She had sensed his mind before and assumed she'd recognize it if she had a close enough look. The whole thing just was complicated as a person's mind could feel much different if that person's mood changed, if the person concentrated, was tired or anything else influenced his mind.

For a while the vixen stayed unsuccessful starting to wonder if he was even here but just as she was about to either give up or be tempted to do something careless again she meant to have sensed the lizard.

Silently Krystal crawled closer though she stayed far enough away from everyone else to not risk to be seen. As the iguana was inside one of the space-ships right now she had little other choice than to wait for him to come out. Krystal lay down on her belly watching the space-craft he was in. Waiting could be boring but she needed to stay attentive not to get into an equally bad position she had gotten herself into yesterday.

Those were a strange group of people. Almost all of them were men, almost all of them were dissatisfied and almost all of them seemed to constantly have fantasies, Krystal could really do without seeing. Lying here and watching their minds really could be a disgusting way of passing the time. It wasn't like the people in her tribe never had fantasies one shouldn't spy on but as most people in her tribe had at least very limited telepathic abilities themselves they knew how to hide their thoughts and feelings and could realize if they were being 'watched'. That was, if they weren't all too indulged in their fantasies to realize anything else. Those people here, by contrast, were completely oblivious to her presence and didn't make the slightest effort to prevent her from seeing everything in detail and Krystal could have sworn they also were simply more perverted than the tribe people.

In disgust the vixen tried to fade out all those pictures, feelings and impressions that bombarded her mind and to merely concentrate on who was going where to make sure no one would run into her. It only worked reasonably well.

Actually Krystal was here to find out more about this strange force that had arrived with the aliens, however, it seemed hardly anyone here was doing anything but daydreaming about sex or different kinds of perversions. To be fair a few of the people seemed to be actually working and were fully concentrating on something Krystal didn't understand and a few were also thinking in non sexual ways about people they knew and their families who had staid on other planets far away.

Krystal was already getting frustrated with all the filthy thoughts she had had to witness so far reconsidering her choice to wait here till the iguana would leave the space-craft just as he actually did so. Watching him closely the vixen crawled still a little closer being careful not to attract anyone else's attention.

"Hey." she hissed only audible for him but not for anyone further away. He turned around eying the grass suspiciously obviously not sure if there had actually been a sound or if he had just imagined it. Just as he was about to dismiss it and walk on Krystal slowly appeared out of the grass still watching out not to be too openly visible.

Noting in the iguanas mind indicated that he might have any malicious intentions, however, she wasn't all too sure about the rest of the aliens and decided not to take more risk than necessary.

"Hallo." he replied with a genuine smile speaking in his faulty Cerinian. "You came back."

Krystal smiled back shyly. "Yes, you said I may."

"Yes, you can come. Do you want come?" he ask enthusiastically.

Krystal was watching his mind closely. It was no easier than the first time she had read one of the alien's minds to tell what they were thinking given all the cultural differences and the different language they thought in but she was pretty sure he didn't believe she'd be in any danger and therefore she slowly approached him no longer hiding from the aliens.

She tried to read every sign for possible danger but, though she had attracted everyone's attention and didn't like the way most of the people here looked at her, there was nothing that indicated any immediate danger.

Also the iguana seemed to think she was beautiful, but not that much in a way that would have made her feel uneasy. At least there were no dirty fantasies involving her on his mind right now which helped her to trust him a little more.

"Come on. My name is Kyle. What yours?" the lizard ask her leading her somewhere where there were fewer people standing around.

"Krystal." she replied. "What are you and all those people doing on this planet? Who are all of you?"

"We're, some of us 're soldiers some... what the word?... scientists." Kyle explained openly. "We come from planet on Lylat-System. You not know that, do you?"

Krystal shook her head. She had never heard of anything called Lylat-Systam, but tried to memorize that word. So soldiers, scientists and a strange force... she didn't really know what to make of it and she didn't know if it was a good idea to directly ask about that force. "No I don't know what the Lylat-System is." she answered. "What are you doing on Cerinia?"

"Research. Your planet got... power... a sort of ours don't. Is interesting." he told her.

"Power? You mean the spirits? Your planets don't have spirits?" she wondered.

"No, our planets no spirits." Kyle confirmed making Krystal nod. This was a start. Now she at least knew why they were here. Yet she couldn't imagine a planet without spirits. What did they have faith in, if there were no spirits? Who did they pray to? Who did they ask for help in times of great trouble if it was too much for people to handle?

"You were in space-ship yesterday. Do you want to see spaceship inside?" Kyle suggested and Krystal nodded again.

"Yes, I'd love to."

Together they entered one of the smaller ships. "Do you want to see it fly?" Kyle ask.

Krystal looked at him with a mixture of fear and excitement. Fly? Did she want to fly? To be quite honest, she didn't know herself. Kyle's mind told her that it wasn't dangerous but her instincts told her something else. The vixen took a moment considering it queasily shifting her weight from one leg to another but finally she nodded. She had always loved adventures but this didn't mean that they didn't scare her. "Alright. Let's fly." she replied taking a deep breath.

"Look, first we close the doors before we can take off." Kyle explained. "Here." He pressed a button making the doors shut with a hiss. "Then here. Starting the engines." he continued. "Do you want?"

Her? Krystal was a little hesitant. She couldn't fly a space-ship, could she? But no matter how nervous it made her feel this was an opportunity she didn't want to miss out on and so she tentatively started to do what Kyle instructed her to do.

Krystal flinched with a small yelp of joy and fear as the engines came to life. "Here, hold that. That's what you decide height and direction with." Kyle explained placing Krystal's hands in the right position. "And those things are speed. Slower. Faster." he continued showing her how to accelerate and decelerate the ship. He obviously had trouble putting everything he needed to say into words but Krystal could sense, that he too enjoyed teaching her how to fly.

"Now take off." he said. With slightly trembling hands Krystal tried to very carefully make the ship gain height but as it actually lifted up into the air and slightly tilted forwards she couldn't help tightening her grip around the controls with a shriek.

"Nothing go wrong. I here. I don't let you crash." Kyle tried to reassure her and Krystal slowly managed to calm her heartbeat down again. "Now try fly forwards. Slowly." he instructed her.

Calmer now Krystal tried to do so feeling how her fear gradually begun to vanish being replaced with elation. Only two days ago she wouldn't have thought she'd ever see a space-ship and now she was even piloting one.

Kyle smiled seeing the expression of childlike happiness on her face. "Now left, bit faster." Krystal sped up and almost let the ship spin out of control failing to hold back another shriek. The ship had accelerated much faster than she had expected. Kyle helped her bring the space-craft back under her control and slowed it down again. "Not hasty." he warned her.

"Alright." she nodded.

"Try again. Left and faster." he instructed.

This time Krystal was more careful only slowly accelerating the ship. It worked perfectly well. Kyle let her fly around a bit more and she started to actually feel in control of the space-craft starting to get a feeling for flying. In the end she only occasionally felt a little insecure but basically piloting a space-craft had started to feel almost natural.

"You learn fast."Kyle told her as they touched down again and in his mind she could see that he truly was impressed by her learning-process.

"This is for opening the door again?" Krystal wanted to know.

"Yes, opens the door." he confirmed.

"Alright. I need to go back to my tribe. Thank you for letting me fly." the vixen replied.

"Good. You can come back any time you want to. If want fly again or talk something." the iguana invited her.

"Yes, see ya tomorrow." she answered with a happy thankful smile before she exited the small space-ship. She didn't really find out much about this strange force which initially had been her excuse to come back but she had had a lot of fun and now she definitely believed there wasn't much risk in visiting Kyle again.

AN: I hope to get the next chapter finished within the next three days. After all I can't take that ridiculously long every time. Also, the romance part in this story is gonna start in the next chapter.


	5. A secret friend

AN:Thank you for the reviews again, Order and Chaos, Qui Iudicant and K.S. Reynard.

**Crimson dusk**

**A secret friend**

In the past few days Krystal had been spending a lot of time with Kyle learning how to fly, talking about their home-worlds and teaching each other their languages. Her Lylat was even more awful than his Cerinian, however she was hoping she sooner or later would be able to actually read the Lylatian's, or to be more exact Venomian's, thoughts if she learned their language well enough and it really wasn't difficult to find the motivation to try her best as she was thoroughly enjoying every moment she spent with the iguana.

"Yes, the spirits keep our planet from falling apart, they keep our air from vanishing into space but that's not all they do." Krystal explained.

"What more?" Kyle wanted to know.

"They make us understand the world the way we do. They give us hope, when we're scared, consolation when we're desperate and show us a way when we can't manage to find one on our own. They provide us with safety."

"So, can you talk to them?" Kyle wondered.

"We can sense and feel them and let them look straight into our souls if we visit one of the shrines to thank them or to ask for help and if they see that our hearts are pure and our intentions are honest they'll help us if they feel it's the right thing to do and if solving our problems on our own wouldn't be better for us." she told him. "But it's a long way to the next shrine and therefore we don't go there very often. My family is always asking them to cure my sister but... they never did so. She says there must be a reason why it is better this way, but I can't believe this. I can't believe there is." Krystal realized how bitter her voice suddenly sounded and Kyle must have realized it too.

"Your sister is ill?" he inquired.

"She was born with a very weak heart. She sometimes... seems to be suffocating." Krystal had known this for a long time and yet it was difficult to talk about it.

"Sorry." Kyle replied and his voice sounded as if he truly meant it. "Why the shrines far away? Can't built closer ones?"

"It's not that easy. They can't just be built anywhere. They're in magic places. Only there it is possible to get in contact with the spirits and the planet itself." She explained.

"How you get in contact?" the Kyle ask. Krystal kept checking his mind to make sure she didn't bore the lizard but she could tell that her words were deeply interesting to him.

"We open our minds. We must not be scared and we must allow their presence in our souls and bodies." the vixen replied chewing on her lip looking for words. "I can't really describe it. It's something you don't know until you feel it."

"And what is this magic in the places?" Kyle inquired.

"It's an energy, a sort of power. It gave this planet it's life and it keeps us alive." Krystal explained.

"You believe no life without magic? There no magic on Venom. Is different here?" Kyle wanted to know.

"Maybe. I don't know your worlds. I don't know why they can exist without spirits and ours can't but I am glad they're here." she shrugged. "You always described Venom as a rather dark and desolate place. Why have you been living there? Couldn't you just have flown away?"

"I was born there. Some of people born there, some sent there because they made crimes." the iguana answered. "Is dark, doesn't look nice, is poisonous but is my home. Always been there. This planet nicer, you right but my home there." After all the things Kyle had told her about his home-world Krystal couldn't imagine living there. It was a horrible place, yet a place he seemed to have become to like.

It was only now that Krystal begun to realize the sun was already starting to disappear behind the distant mountains far away on the horizon. "Oops! For how long have I been here?" she exclaimed.

"Is getting dark, you right. Is... time goes away fast talking to you." Kyle agreed.

"Yes." she smiled getting up from her seat in the space-ship. "I totally forgot about the time. I need to go home."

"Yes, good night. Is nice talking to you. You come again tomorrow?" he ask her.

"Yes, sure... I..." Krystal replied as she dripped exiting the space-craft and bumped her head stumbling a few steps backwards rubbing her forehead.

"You alright?!" Kyle wanted to know trying to get to her to help her and she bumped into him as she was getting up again.

"Whoops. It seems, I should be more careful." Krystal remarked staying leaned onto him.

"You hurt?" Kyle ask.

"No I am fine. I.. just am awfully clumsy today." the vixen answered and they both started to laugh looking into each other's eyes. It was only now that she realized that their faces were only a few inches away from each other. His eyes... were beautiful... she hadn't realized this before.

Time seemed to be frozen as they continued standing there studying each other's eyes and the next thing Krystal realized were his lips on hers. She closed her eyes placing her arms around the iguana pulling him closer and felt him holding her tight.

Krystal couldn't tell for how long they had been standing there kissing in a passionate embrace as their lips separated again and she slowly opened her eyes. It felt... strange... and it felt wonderful. "I, um, need to go." she repeated with a shy smile.

"Good night, Krystal. See you tomorrow." Kyle replied as the vixen started to walk away looking back over her shoulder till she was too far away to see him anymore.

Feeling strangely light Krystal run home being so confused she almost forgot about the guards that were still positioned around the village. Trying to regain self-control the vixen walked home struggling to hide her emotion as well as she could and entered her family's hut where she found Topaz being fast asleep and Amber who had been waiting for her.

Of course every try to hide her emotions from her sister was doomed to fail. She had known that but Amber was the only person Krystal could fully trust and she didn't feel the need to keep anything secret from her. "You did what?!" Amber exclaimed with a bright enthusiastic smile on her face, though keeping her voice low enough not to wake Topaz up. "Now, now Krystal, an alien." she added in a mocking manner that was free of any seriousness.

"Now, now Amber, you know that it is no good manners to sneak around in another's mind." Krystal replied in playful disapproval sitting down beside her sister.

"Oh yes I know, it's just... I'm so perfectly good at that." Amer smiled evilly and then continued in unhidden excitement "You need to tell me everything; in ALL detail!"

"And I thought you have already seen everything... being so perfectly good at reading my mind." Krystal retorted returning Amber's smile.

"You need to tell me anyway!" Amber urged her jumping around a bit unable to sit still.

"Um, there really isn't much to say. I stumbled into him and then... before I knew what was happening... we kissed each other... it was strange." Krystal replied reliving her recent memories.

"Och, just strange?" Amber wanted to know in exaggerated disappointment making Krystal almost laugh at her overdone sad face.

"Well, it was good, but when I had gone there earlier today it was one of the things I'd have expected the least." Krystal explained a little dreamily.

"And... do you like him? Like... a Lot?!" Amber wanted to know her lips curling to a slightly wicked smile.

"Um, I don't know. Well, yes, I think so. I mean we've been spending a lot of time together lately and he's really nice and I enjoy talking to him... it's just before just a few moments ago I've not been thinking of him that way." Krystal pondered resting her chin on her palms.

"Oh, come on. Do you love him or do you not? You gotta know that!" Amber questioned jumping around a little in excitement.

"I... it's complicated. We come from completely different worlds. We don't speak each others languages very well, we don't understand each others cultures very well. He's a reptile, I am a mammal... but..."

"That's not what I've ask you. Do you love him?" Amber complained pulling another impatient dissatisfied face.

"I... yes, but we both know that he won't stay here forever." Krystal replied.

"Yes, that's true." Amber had to admit letting her ears hang down this time without just being an exaggerating actress. "On a different not: Did you find out anything about this strange force?" the skinny vixen changed the topic.

"No, not really. I still don't know how to ask Kyle about it." Krystal answered.

"I've been sensing that daddy is deeply worried because of this force and it really is... weird." Amber noted seemingly lost in thoughts for a moment.

"Yes, I know. I'll try, but... it ain't that easy." the elder sister agreed. "I think we should sleep now before we wake someone up." she added lying down on her bed.

"You're right. It's getting late." Amber confirmed closing her big warm eyes. She looked exhausted even though she had just been so vivid a moment ago.

AN: The next update will take a bit longer again as I am not yet sure how to continue. I most probably need to add one or two chapters I didn't plan to do originally to make sure no important aspects of this story lose out.


	6. A day together

AN: Thank you a lot for the reviews again, K. , Order and Chaos – Qui Iudicant and also ZombieAxeHero and Starfoxfan11849.

**Crimson dusk**

**A day together**

The next morning when Krystal awoke she felt strangely excited and a little flustered. She sat up in bed wrinkling her brow in thought before she was able to remember the reason for this strange warm nervousness making a smile spread across her face.

Soundlessly she got up looking down at her still sleeping siblings. Amber was all curled up and hardly any of her was visible and Topaz's left leg and arm were dangling down from his bed as he was mumbling unarticulated words in his sleep.

Quietly the vixen went for the door and quickly ate her breakfast before leafing the house. It was still dark outside only a faint shimmer in the distance illuminating the far-away mountains. For a moment Krystal kept watching the waking-up sun. It was a peaceful sight and beautiful.

Again she couldn't help smiling. It was even a little chilly right now and there were a few clouds in the sky but nonetheless it was going to be a warm day.

Krystal started walking towards the space-ships of the aliens. She needed to hide her presence from the guards as she was sneaking out of the village but by now she had gotten quite some practice in staying unseen and unnoticed.

Though her heart was beating in a strange rhythm she was in no hurry wondering how many of the aliens were already awake and if Kyle was. Somehow she was eager to meet him again but there also was a little insecurity she felt. Many things were far more easy in the evening than they were the next morning. Unintentionally her hand moved up to her lips as she recalled what had happened yesterday.

After a while of walking in a slow pace and watching the sun rise above the distant mountains Krystal finally reached her destination. By now it almost felt natural to enter the Venomian's camp and none of their guards paid much attention to her apart from some of them staring at her boobs or butt which could be a little unnerving at times but usually didn't bother her much. Also here it was still much more quiet than usually most of the people being still fast asleep or only about to wake up.

Krystal tried to locate Kyle using her telepathy and it didn't take her long until she had found the iguana who was just about to get out of bed and get dressed. For a short moment the vixen stopped in her pace. Her heart was beating too fast due to a nervousness that didn't suit her usual daring character.

While she was waiting for Kyle to fully wake up she climbed onto the wing of one of the space-fighters and sat down observing his mind closely and waited for him to exit the space-craft he was in.

"Krystal!" Kyle seemed to be a bit puzzled to meet her that early in the morning.

"Hi." Krystal smiled letting herself slide of the wing and dropped on her feet.

"Nice, see ya again." he said as she walked towards him and after hesitating for a short moment studying his mind she pulled him into a tight embrace.

"I thought... there's something I want show you." the iguana suggested leading her towards one of the space-ships and entering it together with her.

Krystal looked at him curiously. "And what?" but instead of answering her question Kyle replied with another one.

"How much of your home-world do you already see?"

She kept scrutinizing him for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"Like what places you have been at?" he elaborated. "Planet big and you got no fast transport-thingys."

"Oh?!" she smiled in excitement. "You mean we could go with the space-ship somewhere far away?" The place she was living in was beautiful but Krystal had always known that there was so much more – so many things she thought she'd never see.

"Exactly." Kyle confirmed. "Have you been to the sea ever?"

Krystal had heard other people talk about the sea – an endlessly far water that tasted awful – but it was far away and so she shook her head. "No."

"I show you?" Kyle suggested and Krystal nodded her smile widening.

"Do you want to fly the ship?" he offered her and Krystal nodded again. Piloting a ship didn't scare her anymore at all but she was excited as she had never been flying a far distance before. By now she could tell with almost certainty that this was going to be a great day.

Krystal pressed a button making the doors of their small space-craft shut with a soft hiss before she took off. At first she only flew so fast and so high she could still see the landscape pass by below her without it all being either just a field of dots or a blur of shades of brown and green but then Kyle instructed her to accelerate as it would take them a lot of time to reach the ocean otherwise.

Krystal flew faster than she had done ever before and it felt great. She was so far away from home – even a little scary – but at the same time she couldn't have felt any more free.

It didn't even take long until Kyle told her "Slow down a little now." and it surprised her how much the land below her had changed. The plants here, even the soil, looked completely different to what she was used to. At first Krystal kept looking at the ground admiring the new impressions until Kyle motioned her to look up.

As Krystal lifted her eyes she saw something she had only known from descriptions but in reality it looked much more breathtaking than she had ever imagined. There was this endless blue water glittering in the sun. The vixen gasped in amazement. "This is the sea?" she ask.

"Yes, this the sea." the iguana replied.

"It's... beautiful." she breathed.

"Just wait till get there."the iguana promised.

Only a short moment later Krystal landed the space-ship only a couple of meters away from the water and pressed the button to open the door. Together with Kyle she went for the exit. It was still a long time till midday but it was noticeable how much the sun had risen since she had arrived at the alien's camp and it had become significantly warmer.

Slowly Krystal left the space-craft being surprised about how soft the sand beneath her feet felt. She was surrounded by nothing but flat stones, sand, awkward plants and water. "This is great." she realized as she started walking along the beach looking around. Even the sounds here and the smells were completely different to what she was used to.

Kyle followed her as the vixen looked around in amazement. Since the aliens had arrived in her home-world Krystal had more and more begun to realize how much she had never had the opportunity to see, how much she didn't know and how much she couldn't even imagine. Even a single planet was almost endless to her as she could never ever see all of it but out there were thousands and millions of planets.

Slowly Krystal walked closer to the sea letting the water wash over her toes breathing in its salty scent. About 50 meters from her there were a few rocks in the sea that were partly covered with sand and low vegetation. "Do you think we could get there?" she ask taking one step further into the water. It was cooler than she had expected but given the hot temperatures of the air she didn't mind.

"Of course." Kyle replied taking of his shirt and his trousers to follow her into the sea and again Krystal couldn't help but stare in amazement for a moment even though it was something very usual to walk around with bare upper bodies, or in the case of females almost bare upper bodies, in her culture and even though she had seen quite a few of the Venomians halfway undressed but none of their bodies had been as good looking as Kyle's.

As soon as he had reached her only in his underwear anymore Krystal took two more steps to get into deeper water and dropped herself starting to swim.

Being only used to the lake near her village the waves felt strange and she had to screw her eyes shut as one washed over her face. Coughing the vixen returned to the surface spiting out the salty taste of the water.

"You alright?" Kyle inquired as she tried to get the awful taste out of her mouth.

"Yes." Krystal replied contorting her face in disgust. "Yuck!" she chuckled swimming on being more careful not to swallow any salty water anymore.

"Sorry. Should've warned you." Kyle apologized.

"No." Krystal shook her head with a small laugh. "I knew it would taste awful I just wasn't prepared for the wave."

"Then I should have warned you of the waves."

After swimming for a short while they reached the tiny island they had been heading for climbing up the rocks. Krystal started to walk to the other end of it followed by Kyle and sat down on one of the smaller rocks letting her feet dangle into the water watching some little colorful fish swim by her legs.

After a moment of silence Krystal ask randomly: "Is there any planet similar to Cerinia in the Lylat-System?"

The iguana took a moment to think her question over. "Not really. Sauria is a bit similar both in landscape and civilization – at least our point of view. However, it's inhabitants are much more animal-like than anthropomorphs here. It's the only planet in the Lylat-System known to have spirits similar to those in Cerinia. Corneria also is a bit similar, however just in climate but a bit cooler too."

"But... why are the Venomians doing their research here and not on Sauria then? What sets it apart from Cerinia? Wouldn't it be more logic to go to the closer planet?" the vixen considered both because she was curious about the Lylat-System and because she hadn't forgotten about her initial justification to even be here.

Kyle gave her a half-hearted smile as a reply. "See. Corneria also closer to Sauria than to Cerinia. I told you about war, didn't I? They don't trust us."

Krystal nodded in thought. "And that's... hey!" She jumped up pulling her feet out of the water. "There was a crab trying ton eat my toe!"

Looking at her puzzled expression Kyle couldn't help but chuckle. "Now, it wasn't big crab. Don't think it's too dangerous."

"Hey!" Krystal exclaimed in mock indignation. "You aren't taking me seriously!" putting her foot back into the sea to splash the iguana with water.

"Now that... just you wait!" the iguana replied attempting to splatter her too but Krystal jumped out of the way.

"You don't get me!" she laughed climbing to the other end of the small island where she got into the sea swimming a little away hitting the water causing it to splash into Kyle's direction as he followed her.

"Don't you think you can flee." he playfully threatened her.

"I'm pretty sure I can!" Krystal stated causing some more drops to fly towards him while she swam a little further back.

With a half suppressed shriek of joy she covered her muzzle with her hand screwing her eyes shut as her face was splattered with water immediately splashing back.

Krystal tried to gain some distance diving down a little to avoid getting hit by some more splashes but as she realized the iguana was following her she came up right beside him producing a small wave with her arms that hit the side of his head only to be hit by another wave herself right afterwards.

They went on like that absorbed in their childish game and only swam back to the beach as they realized they were getting exhausted and there they stayed talking about everything that came to their minds. Even though they went back to the space ship to get themselves something to eat after a while Krystal was having far too much fun to actually realize how much time had passed. It already was late afternoon when it came to her mind that her staying away for this long might be suspicious and one thing she really couldn't use was anyone to find out about her secret.

Krystal sighed falling silent for a moment while she watched the sea. This truly had been a wonderful day but now she needed to return back home. "Kyle, we need to fly back now." she said. "My family will be wondering where I am."

The lizard nodded. He didn't seem to want to get up and walk back to the space-ship just yet but he knew she was right. "Alright. Let's go." he replied slowly standing up.

AN: I think I've been neglecting Sapphire a little in the previous chapters and this time Amber too but they shall show up again in the next chapter.


	7. Confusion

AN: Thanks for the reviews Order and Chaos - Qui Iudicant, PastaUnited01, K. and The Krystal Method.

Order and Chaos, you're right that the use of words such as 'ain't' doesn't suit the culture Krystal is coming from very well. I changed that word in the previous chapter and will try to avoid it in the forthcoming ones.

Also, thanks especially for pointing out the lack of sentence structuring, PastaUnited01. I tied to use more commas than I did in the previous chapters but, as I never learned at school how to do correct punctuation in English and as there are partly different rules to it than in my mother tongue, though it of course follows the same logic, I am not sure if, what I did in this chapter, is better than in the others. Thus I hope someone will give me some feedback again on if I got it completely wrong or if it's basically right and on if I should try to still make more commas than I did in this chapter.

**Crimson dusk**

**Confusion**

Krystal moved the ladder to the left climbing up again. Even though she was really longing to simply ignore her duties and return to the alien's camp, she knew that it made no good impression if the headsman's daughter was going lazy and it simply would direct too many people's attention to her.

Lost in thoughts and in her still so fresh memories the vixen reached up picking some of the small fruits, that grew on the tree she had leaned the ladder against, and put them in a basket.

"Krystal!" she suddenly heard a very familiar voice exclaim beside her that gave her a slight start as she hadn't expected to meet Amber right now.

"Amber!" Krystal replied. "What are you doing here?" Due to her conditions Amber couldn't help much with any work though she always was trying her best.

"I wanted to see you." Krystal's little sister explained leaning against the trunk of the tree with a wicked smile Krystal knew all too well. There were no further words needed for Krystal to be able to tell what this was all about. Yesterday she had gone to the fields after returning from the aliens and, when she had gone home, Amber had already been asleep and today in the morning she had left before Amber had woken up.

"You have to tell me Eeeeeeeverything!" Amber urged her seemingly unable to hide her excitement.

"Alright. Just keep your voice down." Krystal agreed after carefully looking around to make sure no one was paying too much attention to them.

"Alright! I promise!" Amber exclaimed enthusiastically while she was struggling to climb up the tree, making Krystal sigh with a weak smile.

"Do I need to help you?" Krystal ask watching her sister's efforts.

"No. See, I am already up." Amber announced proudly, climbing closer to Krystal, and started helping her to collect the fruits but, as Krystal kept quiet for a moment just looking at her, she got impatient. "Now get talking." Amber demanded with an exaggeratedly impatient gesture she accomplished with the most curious expression one could possibly manage to produce.

"Alright. What do you want to know." Krystal inquired.

"I already said that. Eeeeeeeverything." the little vixen repeated giving all possible emphasis to the last word.

"Fine. But where should I start?" Krystal wanted to know. "As you already know I went to Kyle again yesterday in the morning."

"Yes, I know that." Amber confirmed nodding vigorously. "And then?!" she grinned at Krystal unable to hide her anticipation.

"Well." Krystal tried to collect her thoughts. "After I had waited for him to wake up we got onto one of the space-crafts again but this time we flew further away."

"Further away?" Amber repeated inquisitively. "How far?!"

"Till we reached the sea." Krystal explained.

"The sea?" Amber ask her eyes widening in curiosity. "How did it look like?"

"It was..." Krystal started looking for the right words. "Well, why don't you look at it yourself." she finally decided recalling her memories of the beach as exactly as she managed to. "But help me make sure no one is watching our thoughts."

"Alright." Amber agreed her usual vividly happy expression being replaced by sheer amazement as she started to look into her sister's mind. For a moment even she seemed to be lost for words, which was something that came close to a miracle. Then she simply stated "Wow. This is fantastic."

Krystal nodded a smile spreading across her face. "Yes. I know. I thought so too."

"Could you concentrate on that smell again? I haven't smelled anything like that before." Amber ask her.

"Of course." the older sister replied focusing on her memories once more.

For a moment Amber was completely silent, closing her eyes while she was looking around in Krystal's memories. In content Krystal could sense her sister's happiness but there also was another feeling in her mind, ever so slightly it was barely noticeable – some strange melancholy. However, before Krystal could give any thought to it, Amber had already opened her eyes back up smiling brightly. "Anyways, what happened next? What did you do there?" she inquired being so fidgety she accidentally dropped one of the fruits to the ground.

"Well we..." Krystal went on but she was abruptly cut off by Amber.

"There's someone approaching us." Amber warned her making Krystal turn round a little too fast.

"Hi." Krystal and Amber said at the same time as they recognized Sapphire and Oak.

"Hi. We were heading back to the village with our baskets." Sapphire explained motioning at the basket full of fruits he was carrying and at the two baskets Oak held in his hands. "And, as your basket seems to be pretty full by now, we were wondering if you'd like us to take it with us."

"Oh, sure thanks." Krytsal replied handing him her basket. "We're still collecting some more fruits. Would you mind giving me the basket down there?" she ask motioning at the other basket she had taking with her this morning.

"Well, see you back in the village." Oak said and went on while Sapphire put his baskets down on the ground to hand Krystal the empty one.

"Thanks." she replied taking the basket from him and placed it between Amber and herself to collect some more fruits.

"Um..." Sapphire started again with a slightly nervous expression on his face. "I've not seen you a lot lately."

Krystal did her best to hide her own unease. She had expected that he sooner or later would realize how often she simply disappeared but she had hoped he'd not interpret too much into it. "Yes, I know." she answered and added " It's been a couple of awkward weeks." figuring that she could say that much without giving away anything.

"Well, just... whatever you're doing, be careful." he ask her his voice displaying true concern.

Krystal tried to not show any of it in her facial expression as she sensed his worry, but it frightened her to not know how much he had figured out. "Um, sure." she nodded faking a smile. However, she could tell that it failed to look entirely genuine.

"Alright, that's... fine." he replied awkwardly his own smile looking even more fake than hers as he took the baskets again turning round to leave, but instead of just walking away he stopped for a moment.

Krystal couldn't help feeling awkwardly confused. There was so much going on in Sapphire's mind she could sense but didn't know what to make of. "Sapphire." she ask. "Is anything the matter?"

He turned his head towards her with a smile on his face but somehow she couldn't help realize that his expression looked pained. "No, Krystal." he replied. "It's alright... as long as you're happy."

Krystal blinked unable to think of anything to say but he didn't give her a chance to come up with anything anyways, but simply turned around and walked away. For a while Krystal simply looked after him her head spinning in confusion. He clearly knew more than she had hoped or expected and somehow sensing his mind hurt in a way that was hard to comprehend. She knew why, but still couldn't help feeling confused about everything that was going on. Why did everything need to be so complicated? Only as she heard Amber's voice, she realized what she was doing and turned her attention back to her sister with a start.

"Well." Amber said. "He certainly is sweet. It's almost a pity you're already taken."

Krystal opened her mouth unsure what to reply but she wouldn't have had the time to open her mouth anyways, as the ground beneath her suddenly begun to vibrate causing the ladder she was standing on to tilt.

With a shriek the vixen fell to the ground gritting her teeth in pain as her knees hit the ground. Everywhere around her fruits were falling off the tree as the ground continued to shake.

With a gasp Krystal tried to get back on her feet pressing herself against the trunk of the tree. In fear she looked up to see if Amber was alright. The light blue vixen was clinging desperately onto the brunch, she was lying on, screwing her eyes shut.

The whole thing only took a moment. As fast as the earthquake had started it ended again. "What the...?!" Krystal exclaimed hurrying to climb up to her sister as soon as she was able to do so again.

"Amber!" she softly shook her sister by the shoulder trying to get her attention.

"Yes, I am fine." Amber gasped slowly sitting back up.

"Krystal!" she suddenly heard a voice exclaim from below.

"Sapphire?" Krystal replied.

"Are you alright?" he ask his voice full of worry. "You fell off the ladder."

"Yes, I'll be fine. Just grazed my knee." she smiled trying to catch her breath. "Now that was just crazy. I wasn't expecting an earthquake."

"Sure. Me too." Sapphire agreed. "Now I've got to pick all the fruits back up." he added looking over at the buckets he had dropped during the earthquake.

"Yes, if that only was an earthquake." Amber joined their conversation furrowing her brow in thought.

"But... what else should it have been?" Krystal ask giving her a puzzled look.

For a moment Amber simply kept chewing on her lip. "I don't know... but... it felt strange. Yes, it was an earthquake but there also was something else. I sensed something that shouldn't have been there."

"Something that shouldn't have been there?" Krystal repeated. "And what do you think was that?"

Amber sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. "If I only knew."

While Krystal hadn't been sensing anything unusual apart from the ground shaking beneath her and part of her mind simply wanted to dismiss what Amber had said, she knew that, if Amber's telepathy sensed something, there usually was more to it.

"Alright." Krystal replied neither able to make much sense of what Amber had just said nor able to push it out of her mind again. "We need to pick up the fruits."

Trying to push all the confusion out of her mind, the vixen climbed off the tree and walked over to the tilted baskets and the scattered fruits followed by Sapphire and Amber. Together they knelt down putting the baskets upright again and started to collect the fruits.


	8. Paranoia or danger

AN: As usually, thanks again Order and Chaos – Qui Iudicant for the review.

**Crimson dusk**

**Paranoia or danger**

The next morning Krystal awoke to the voice of her mother and her father in the main room realizing signs of stress in their thought patterns. As there was only a thin wall in between them she could easily hear their low but tense conversation. Not wanting to risk that her parents would realize her awakening she tried to keep her mind in a foggy dreamlike state not using any telepathy to read their minds.

"Orchid, what I was saying is that they had been to several of the shrines of nearby tribes. They show some interest in the spirits that keep our world in order and we don't know what those aliens are capable of." her father's voice pointed out.

"But this doesn't mean we're in any danger. You're exaggerating. Space-people show interest in various things for apparently no reason." her mother tried to calm her father down.

"Still, we need to keep them away from our shrines at any cost." Krystal's father argued.

"What you are talking about is starting a war we can not win for no reason other than paranoid fear. That we don't understand those aliens and their motives doesn't necessarily mean they pose a threat to us, but they will if we treat them as if they did." Orchid replied slightly rising her voice.

"What I am talking about is doing anything that's necessary to keep our planet save!" Krystal's father contradicted her. "You know what's at stakes!"

"Yes, the lives of all our people are at stakes if we turn to violent means!" his wive insisted. "Let's not..., let's not act rashly." she added in a much softer voice.

"There is a time when it is right to act." he took clear.

"Yes, but there's also a time when it is right to wait and to not take any unnecessary risk. They have weapons we can't fight against." the light pink vixen pointed out.

"But for how long shall we wait. It could be too late any time... wait there's..." the leader of the tribe told her. "Krystal!"

"Huh? Dad... what is it?" a drowsy young vixen replied.

"Have you heard our conversation?" her father wanted to know.

"Well, I've just woken up. It wasn't really possible not to hear you. You are worried because of the aliens. So much I've heard." Krystal yawned rubbing her eyes before she went to get herself a slice of bread and some of the fruits they grew behind the village.

The vixen finished her breakfast and fetched her staff before she left the village unseen as she had used to do for quite a while now. She couldn't tell if she actually believed her father's worries were reasonable but just to be sure she'd ask Kyle. The aliens were here to do research, right? There was no reason why they'd want to cause any harm, was there?

This day she didn't need to wait for the iguana for long as he just exited one of the space-crafts the moment she had reached the alien's camp. "Hi!" Krystalal exclaimed running towards Kyle as she saw him and pulled him into a hug.

"Hi, Krystal!" he replied.

"Um, well." she started. "There's something I need to ask."

"What is it?" the lizard wanted to know looking at her as if he wasn't sure if he should be worried.

"Some of the people here were at our shrines, weren't they?" the vixen inquired.

"Yes, they were. Is it wrong?" Kyle wondered.

"It's just... it has been worrying my dad. He fears that you might do some harm." she explained.

"We don't mean harm." the iguana assured her.

"Alright, but why have you been there?" Krystal needed to know.

"Research. Is... we need to know some things." Kyle replied.

"Why? And what?" the blue vulpine ask.

Kyle was scrutinizing her for a moment. "You worried too?" he assumed.

"I..." the vixen took a deep breath. "I don't know what to think, Kyle." She didn't want him to feel betrayed by her distrust but she couldn't do without a little certainty. "My father was quite angry, upset... to say the least... and I have no idea what all of you are doing here or why."

The lizard replied with a smile. "We just want knowledge about the spirits and about the power that keeps your planet together. Is all."

Krystal tried to get as deep into his mind as possible using her telepathy. She couldn't find anything that would have indicated any dishonesty on his part. "What for do you need this knowledge?" she inquired.

For a short moment Kyle kept quiet. "I don't know. Maybe for our planet. Is just what I am thinking. I don't know."

He had told Krystal enough in the past weeks for her to know that their home-world wasn't exactly a fancy place to live in. Could one change a world with such knowledge? Slowly the vixen nodded. "Alright. Sorry, I just needed to be sure." she said.

"Is fine, Krystal." Kyle assured her. "You want to fly?" he suggested after a short pause.

Krystal nodded a bright smile returning to her face. Flying could always arouse her enthusiasm and maybe they'd go to some place again she hadn't seen before, though she couldn't stay here quite as long today as she had the day they had flown to the sea. "Yes, I'd love to." she answered walking towards the small space-craft she had been practicing with a lot lately.

"No, not this one." Kyle stopped her. "You take this." he led her towards one of the space-fighters the aliens had arrived with.

"This?" Krystal ask admiring the ship that was standing in front of her. She had never been flying one of those before and to her it seemed much more exciting than the space-craft she had piloted in the past days.

Her eyes shining with enthusiasm the vixen got into the fighter listening to Kyle as he explained everything to her. "First pretty similar to the other ship." the iguana begun. "Direction, here, speed, here and here. G-Diffusers, here and there you shoot but don't actually hit a thing only shoot upwards or straight. Here charge and here bomb, but don't use. This is your com. You can ask me if got trouble. Careful, is different to other ship. Don't do thing that stupid."

Kyle showed Krystal how to close the canopy and the vixen found herself completely on her own in a space-ship for the first time. Carefully she started the engines reminding herself to take things slowly and not to let the thrill outrun her common sense.

Slowly the fighter lifted off the ground and she kept it hovering hardly one meter above the ground for a while trying to get a feeling for it. "You doing great." Kyle assured her and she looked down at him the corners of her mouth lifting.

Then Krystal slowly let the ship fly straight forwards, took a right turn and started to gain height. Her hands went a little shaky of excitement as she looked down being completely on her own far up in the air.

Krystal took a deep breath and then fired a couple of laser beams up into the clouds. The feeling, piloting this fighter gave her, was a whole lot different to the feeling flying the other space-ship had given her. It simply was great beyond anything she could have expressed.

The vixen accelerated evading imagined enemies and shooting at them slowly gaining more and more control over her ship. She kept doing this for quite a while and sometimes had to stop herself from taking on too much at once, however, as time passed and she grew more familiar with the fighter and more confident she decided to try something she hadn't done before.

Krystal flew high up into the air, turned her ship over trying to do a loop and gripped onto the controls with a shriek as it started to spin out of control. For a moment she fell holding her breath in terror before she managed to regain control over the fighter. "Krystal!" Kyle exclaimed in shock. "Be careful!"

"Yes, I know. I am fine." the vixen gasped trying to steady her shaking hands and to calm her heartbeat. With a sigh of relief she brushed her hair out of her face. "I think I am finished for today. I'll land now." she added.

"Yes, you should come down." the iguana confirmed and she slowly did so still a little shaky as she got out of the space-ship.

"You look pale. You sure you alright?" the lizard inquired helping the shocked vixen out of the space-fighter and even though there were little things that were comparable to the rush the excitement of flying gave her she for once was glad to have solid ground beneath her feet again.

"Yes." she gasped her eyes shining in joy and relief "I'm fine." Then she bent forwards screwing her eyes shut in a small bout of laughter. Krystal tried to steady herself again laughing the fright off. "Thank you; that was great."

"You can do again any time." Kyle offered.

"Yes, maybe tomorrow. I think I need a break now. Let's go inside." she decided.


	9. Strange occurrences

AN: Thank you for the review K. S. Reynard.

**Crimson dusk**

**Strange occurrences**

It was a nice comparably cool summer-day and Krystal, Amber, Sapphire, Sun and Oak were sitting on some rocks in the shade of a huge tree letting some flat stones spin over the surface of the small lake near their village. The water was the freshest and cleanest in the surrounding area. Thus you could easily see the ground through it and watch how it blurred whenever one of the pebbles hit the surface causing concentric waves.

This lake was one of Krystal's favorite places to go to and she wasn't the only one in her tribe who enjoyed being here. The way it reflected the sun at sunrise and at dusk -the glittering bright yellow when the day started and the deep red when it ended that gradually faded away as the sun disappeared behind the horizon - was breathtaking. This scenery often made her remember the true meaning of beauty each time she was here on her own and completely at easy, free of everything that could have worried or bothered her.

But it also was a nice place to swim or to sit around and talk to friends. Since the aliens had arrived this was something she had done by far not often enough. She had enjoyed flying and her conversations with Kyle too much to realize how beautiful her home-world and normal life here could be. In fact, Krystal had spent far too little time with her friends lately. Not that she didn't still enjoy flying or spending time with Kyle, but she had decided she also shouldn't neglect everyday-life and her long-term friends.

"Wow. This one touched the water six times before it went down." the yellow vixen, Sun, noted in amazement watching the flat pebble Oak had thrown disappear in the lake and join the other stones on the ground between which light green plants grew that looked as healthy as the water was. "I still can't seem to do that properly." she added throwing a pebble herself but only managed to make it touch the water once before it broke through the surface and sank.

"It's just practice." Oak explained. "Look that's how you do it." He showed her how to move her hand to give the stone the right spin to jump on the water. "Try it like that."

"Like that?" Sun ask trying again but without managing it any better than the first time.

"You must let go at the right time." the reddish-brown fox replied showing her once more.

Absent-mindedly Krystal threw a pebble herself letting it jump up on the surface of the water four times before it submerged and also Amber and Sapphire sent some stones jumping over the water.

"Yippee!" Amber jubilated her eyes shining with joy as she jumped up and down a little, celebrating her small success. "Even I can do it!"

"Now you are all soooo motivating." Sun complained in mock frustration pulling a sad face.

"C'mon you are not that bad. Your timing just isn't right yet. Try to let go at the right moment." Oak assured her.

"Alright. I'll try again." Sun nodded throwing the next stone into the water.

"Um, no not exactly. Do it in slow motion." Oak instructed her showing her once more how she had to move her wrist and when she had to let go of her stone. Sun nodded watching closely and after a few more tries she actually managed to make her pebble jump up on the water three times.

"We could make a contest! See who can do it best!" Amber suggested clapping her hands in excitement.

"Alright. As if it wasn't already clear who will win." Oak replied starting to look for some stones he liked.

"Are you quite sure?" Krystal ask starting to look for suitable pebbles herself giving him a challenging smile.

"I am in too." Sapphire confirmed picking up some flat stones.

"Alright. Everyone got three throws and whose stones jump up the most times in total wins." Amber decided placing her stones on a pile beside her on the rock she was sitting on. "Sun?"

"No, I'll pass." the yellow vixen shook her head.

"Oak, you start because you're such a show-off." Amber ordered.

"Now, that should be fine with me." the fox replied self-confidently, throwing his first stone hitting the water a total of seven times.

"Krystal you are next, because you too are a show-off." her little sister told her.

"Alright." the vixen replied scoring six hits.

"Seems I am winning." Oak noted as her stone disappeared beneath the surface of the water.

"That was only the first stone." Krystal pointed out.

"And Sapphire you're next because you're of a darker shade of blue than I am." Amber announced.

"Where's the connection between being of a darker shade of blue and being next?" Sapphire wanted to know in a slightly confused manner.

"I have no idea." the vixen shrugged her shoulder. "Now throw your stone already! I am getting impatient!"

"Alright, whatever." he replied watching his stone jump up on the surface six times too.

"And now is my turn!" Amber exclaimed sending her pebble spin over the lake and sink after jumping up four times. "Next round! Oak start!"

However, after Oak had thrown his stone Amber didn't immediately announce the next one to have a go but sank back to the ground screwing her eyes shut.

"Amber!" Krystal exclaimed and let herself fall to her knees next to her sister. "Are you alright?!"

"Maybe we should take her back to the village. Can I help you, or shall I fetch someone from the village who can help her?" Sapphire ask his voice sounding slightly panicky. Uneasily he sat down at the other side of Krystal's sister but Amber shook her head.

"No it's not my heart, or not only. I am sensing something." the light-blue vixen gasped in agony and then finally collapsed on the ground with a groan.

"Amber!?" Krystal breathed unable to think straight. Feeling as if she would suffocate herself she placed a shaky hand on her sister's shoulder. As she had to watch her sister's spasms of pain Krystal felt as if she was nothing more but a powerless bystander. There needed to be something she could do, but, no matter how desperately she wished for a way to help Amber, she knew there was none.

Being stuck in her desperate fear for Amber's life Krystal at first didn't hear the roaring sound that emerged from deep down in the ground but only realized it as the soil and stones beneath her begun to shake violently and threw her off balance.

Even though she had already been on her knees Krystal was thrown onto Sapphire who couldn't keep his balance either. Oak fell into the lake and Sun hit a rock with a shrill shriek making blood spurt from her temple. Everywhere around them branches from the tree they had been sitting under came down sending some of the smaller stones flying through the air as they hit the ground.

Krystal tried to get up on all fours shielding her sister with her body from stones and branches and Sapphire got back onto his knees beside her trying to protect her head and part of her body with his own. Multiple times Krystal almost fell onto Amber before the violent earthquake ended just as fast as it had started. For a short moment they did nothing being way to startled and shocked to react.

The blue vixen got back into a sitting position taking a deep breath. Amber lay beside her breathing flatly and looked exhausted with her disheveled fur and an unusual dull expression in her eyes.

"It's over." Sapphire gasped wiping some blood from his shoulder. The dark blue fox was visibly shaken and a splinter of one of the branches had left quite some cut in his shoulder but he seemed determined to regain his composure as fast as possible. "Is everyone alright."

"What the hell was that?!" Oak exclaimed getting out of the lake and looking around taking in the devastation the earthquake had caused.

"Ow. Was that... an earthquake?" Sun moaned screwing her eyes shut in agony as she got up sore with small cuts and grazes.

"No, that... that wasn't just an earthquake." Amber tried to speak her words being hardly understandable.

"Amber! Are you alright?!" Krystal ask fighting back the panic all the horror-scenarios in her mind created praying that this wasn't the day of her sister's death.

"Didn't you sense that? Didn't any of you sense that?" Amber wanted to know. She tried to sit up but her head slumped to the side as she fell back down.

"Sense what?" Krystal ask in confusion taking her sister's hand.

"This force." Amber groaned making another futile attempt to get up.

"Amber, take it slow. Just stay down, alright." Krystal tried to persuade her.

"What force are you talking about? Not the earthquake, do you?" Sapphire inquired narrowing his eyes.

"The one that arrived with the aliens." Amber's weak voice explained. "It... was strange... the way it felt and it gained strength. Didn't any of you sense it?"

Krystal shook her head concentrating on the force Amber had been talking about. As it had always been somewhere present, ever since the day the space-ships had landed, she hadn't been paying attention to it anymore but Amber was right; the way it felt had indeed chanced. Krystal could sense its energy, it's life, the colors, the perceptions and strange thought patterns much like the first day it had been here and yet it was different. It was stronger; its thoughts and desires had more of a clear shape and the power that radiated from it made the vixen shake. "Yes, I sense it too." she finally said trying to comprehend what her telepathy made her see. "Did it cause the earthquake?"

"I don't know, but... it wasn't a normal earthquake. Neither was the first one two weeks ago." the light-blue vixen replied finally managing to sit up. "We need to go home."

"Amber, jut stay down till you feel better again. We have time." Krytsal tried to stop her but she knew how stubborn Amber could be and her eyes no longer showed any of her body's weakness but a rigid determination instead.

"Maybe we have." the little vixen replied crouching on all fours swaying as she lifted her hands off the ground to get up.

"Amber wait!" Sapphire now too told her catching her before she would hit the ground as she stumbled and fell. "Why are you in such a hurry to get back to the village?"

"The earthquake will have been there too. We don't know if everyone is save and... I need to talk to my father." she explained.

Amber's words made Krystal shudder. She had been so worried about her sister that she hadn't been thinking of her parents and Topaz. Were they save? And the rest of the tribe? Had any of them been hit by falling down trees or breaking down houses? "But... you can't..." she pointed out desperately looking alternately at Amber and in the direction where her home and her family were.

"Alright, be honest Amber." Sapphire ask her as he lifted her up. "Does this make it any more difficult for you to breathe or does it change your conditions for the worse in any other way?"

"No, it's fine." Amber replied letting her head slump backwards and closing her eyes for a moment as she wrapped an arm around Sapphire's shoulder.

"Then let's go."

AN: As you might have realized the last two updates were quite a bit faster than they used to be. Well, this is because I am trying to get this story finished before December starts. I'll be quite busy in December and January and probably won't be able to write a lot during that time. As I don't want this story to have a break of more than two months in between the updates I'd like to finish it before that. Anyways, I originally planned to already have it finished by now but due to laziness there are still a few unfinished chapters.


	10. The beginning of the end

**Crimson Dusk**

**The beginning of the end**

A small gasp of horror escaped Krystal's throat as they reached their home-village - or what was left of it. Almost all of their homes had been severely damaged and many had been flattened completely by the earthquake.

It had happened absolutely unexpected, without the slightest warning or time to prepare for what was going to come on a day that had started like any other day with nothing unusual about it and the people of the tribe were correspondingly shocked and distraught. Some of them were still completely perplex staring at the shattered boards and fragments the earthquake had reduced their homes to, others were busy trying to rescue what hadn't been damaged too much from their huts and about half of the tribe were standing around two of the devastated buildings clearing away beams and broken peaces of wood.

Was there still someone in those huts?

"Mom! Dad! Dandelion!" Sun screamed as she recognized one of the huts many people were standing around as her family's and ran towards it.

"I need to help her." Oak said leaving Krystal, Amber and Sapphire too heading towards the broken down house Sun had disappeared to.

"We need to find dad, and mom and Topaz." Amber told Krystal and then continued addressing Sapphire "I'm fine now. You need to find your own family. I can sense them, they're fine. Go over there."

For a short moment Sapphire seemed to concentrate then he nodded with a small smile of relief. "Yes I sense them too. Are you sure you'll be alright? You looked quite bad."

"Yes, I feel much better already. I'm not gonna give in to it. If my weak heart wants to kill me it gotta try harder." the vixen replied as Sapphire carefully stood her on the ground. She swayed a little but didn't fall down holding onto Krystal to support herself. For a short moment Amber closed her eyes then she pointed towards the other broken down house people were still searching for someone in. "They're all over there." she said at the same time Krystal had managed to find them too.

"Then let's go." Krystal replied helping her sister walk. At first Amber was staggering a bit but she soon had regained her balance and tried to quicken her pace. In view of all the horrible things that had happened Krystal found it hard not to run ahead but she knew her family was save and this was all that mattered.

They had only walked half the way to where their family was when Krystal saw her mother run towards her. "Amber! Krystal!" the pink vixen exclaimed pulling them both into a tight hug. "I am so glad you're save!"

"Mom, we need to talk to dad. There was something wrong with this earthquake. Did he sens it?" Amber interrupted her after a short while.

"Yes, he did. None of us is an as talented telepath as you are, Amber, but it wouldn't have taken any telepathy to tell that this earthquake was not natural." her mother replied the relieved expression on her face being replaced by deep worry.

"Alright, I just wanted to make sure he knows that the power of this ominous force increased as the earthquake started and I wanted him to know that I think it was the reason for the earthquake and that... mom, it didn't feel natural. I think there's something terribly wrong." Amber said tears coming up in her eyes. "Mom, I am scared."

"Everything is gonna be alright, dear." their mother tried to calm her "We gonna find out what the reason for this earthquake was and we gonna find a solution."

"I..." Amber sobbed. "It was so strong. It had so much power and... and the planet... it felt strange."

"Alright, let's go and find dad." Orchid suggested leading Amber and Krystal towards him.

However, they didn't need to go all the way back to the broken down building as their father met them on the half way.

With a few more sobs Amber wiped the tears out of her eyes. "What did you sense as the earthquake occurred? Do you know what the reason for it was?" she asked straight out.

"I sensed how the force that arrived with the aliens gained strength, as if it would suck the energy out of our planet." her father replied.

"Yes, that's what I sensed too. What does this mean?" Amber wanted to know.

"I don't know. All I can tell about it is pure speculation... but, I am not gonna lie to you. We might be in great danger. It is possible that the energy that keeps our planet together gets absorbed by something... and if this happens, it'll fall apart." he explained.

"Tear our planet apart?" Krystal stammered taking a step back. She had heard stories about that but she'd never have believed it could actually happen.

She was hoping her father would tell her that this wasn't a very likely explanation, that it in fact was almost impossible but before he could have said anything a white fox arrived panting for breath. Krystal scrutinized him in confusion as she recognized who he was - shouldn't he be at their shrine? - and she was even more shocked as she realized he was limping and his fur was matted with dried blood. His injuries looked too old to have been caused by the earthquake.

Every tribe in the surrounding area had its own shrine plus a few less important ones and every of the important shrines was watched over by a few guards that stayed there for a couple of weeks till they were relieved by the next ones whose job it was to protect those holy places.

"I have important news." the white fox told them with an expression on his face that matched his condition. "Our shrine was attacked and we didn't manage to defend it... all the other's got killed."

"Oh, my..." Krystal's mother gasped covering her mouth with her hand in shock.

"What?!" Krystal exclaimed. This couldn't be mere coincidence. Something terrible was going on here and something about it made her think that it was even more awful than her mind could comprehend.

"We were attacked by the aliens." the white vulpine added.

It made Krystal feel something heavy in her chest, a weight that threatened to chock her. Then all the other people in her tribe had been right after all and she was the only fool. The aliens indeed were dangerous and evil. But why didn't she ever sense that in all those times she had been there? Did Kyle lie to her? But how could he have done so? She was a telepath after all. Shouldn't she have been able to tell?

Had he just been using her? And all she had believed he felt about her had been a lie? It had just served the purpose of gaining information about Cerinia from her? And stupid and naive as she had been she had told him everything. Could this really be true?

Yet, all he had felt had seemed so genuine. She had sensed his emotions. How could anyone possibly lie that well?

Krytal tried to hold back her tears but it was a futile struggle. She couldn't even tell what she felt right now for it simply was too much - too much anger, too much fear, betrayal, despair but most of all guilt.

If what she thought was true this was all her fault. If she hadn't told him everything about their home-world then maybe they could never have caused so much destruction and if her planet would fall apart it would happen because of her.

Tears streaming down her face the young vixen turned and ran. She didn't know where she wanted to go but just that she needed to get away from here.

Krystal ran till every breath she took was burning in her chest and let herself sink to the ground in exhaustion, sweaty and gasping for air.

Her fault. All her fault.

She didn't manage to comprehend all the things that had happened today but only knew that she couldn't let any more awful thing happen. Somehow she had to prevent them. Somehow she had to stop what her stupidity had caused. She couldn't let it destroy her home-world and kill her family and all the other people.

Krystal didn't have a plan, she didn't even really know what was going on here or who or what that force was that was sucking the energy that kept Cerinia together out of it. All she knew was that she couldn't let this happen.

Drying her tears the vixen looked up at the red sun that was slowly descending behind the far-away mountains at the horizon. It cast a dim light at the whole landscape with long and dark shadows dying the distant clouds red.

Usually Krystal would have thought that it was a very pretty and calming sight but not today for today it didn't only signal the end of a day but the end of an entire world.

The vixen took a deep breath regaining her composure. She couldn't just sit here and cry like a little girl. There was nothing she could do sitting here and soaking the ground with her tears.

Just as Krystal was about to get up again a rustling sound behind her made her pause and her heart skipped one beat. However, the next moment she felt unnaturally calm as she sensed the presence of the one who had followed her here.

Slowly she turned round "Sapphire?" she ask trying to wipe the wetness out of her fur.

"Krystal." he replied approaching her slowly. "What are you doing here?"

"I... Sapphire, this is all my fault." she hadn't planned to admit this to anyone but had spoken the words before she had thought about it shacking back and forth as she was struggling to not burst into tears again.

"No it's not." the night-blue fox answered firmly.

"Yes, it is. You don't know what I've done. I... I have told them the secrets of our world. Sapphire, I've been there almost every day since they landed on our planet and I've told them the things they need to destroy our planet. Dad says it might fall apart." the vixen sobbed covering her face in her hands.

"You are not telling me anything new. I know you have been there, but they wouldn't even have come to Cerinia if they hadn't already planned to do exactly what they're doing now. It's not your fault because they'd have found out anyway. It was only a matter of time." he tried to assure her sitting down beside her and holding her tight as she dropped herself to the ground coughing for breath in between her sobs.

"You know that I have...? Yes, I knew you did. You hinted on it but somehow you never really mentioned it. Why did you never say anything about it?" the vixen wanted to know.

"You know, I usually don't snoop around in other peoples minds but... it had been on your mind a lot so... I couldn't really help sensing it." Sapphire explained.

In another attempt to calm her breath and heartbeat Krystal said "I can not let this happen. I have to go to the aliens again now and I have to stop them. I can pilot a space ship. I can fly to our shrine and stop them."

"How? Krystal they killed five of our people there. They have weapons we're powerless against." he tried to stop her.

"I have to try." she insisted.

"It's too dangerous." Sapphire contradicted her. "You can't do that."

Suddenly Krystal had to laugh – in a joyless cynical way. "Dangerous?" she ask "If what we think is true we won't have much longer to live anyway. Sapphire, this is the end of our world."

"Then I'm coming with you." he decided calmly.


	11. Broken hearts and shattered hopes

AN: Thanks for the review XEternalDarkX and, yes, I'll continue and soon finish this story. The next chapter should be up this weekend.

**Crimson dusk**

**Broken hearts and shattered hopes**

The sun had finally set as Krystal and Sapphire reached the place where the aliens had landed their space-ships a few months ago. They stayed ducked approaching the ones who had come to destroy their home-world. Sneaking through the high grass well hidden from everyones eyes they finally stopped mere 20 meters from the nearest space-craft.

"Alright. What's the plan?" Sapphire ask keeping his voice low.

"We'll go there and steal one of the fighters. Then we fly to the shrine and liberate it." Krystal whispered.

Together they went on careful not to move the grass too obviously. Just now Krystal realized that her plan wouldn't be as easy to put into practice as she had hoped. There were just too many people everywhere and it'd take some time to hijack one of the fighters, plus she was here with Sapphire and there was only space for one person in them.

"I'll need your help to get to one of them and to steal it." Krystal considered "There are simply too many aliens walking around. If you could go over there and shoot with your staff at any other space-craft it should distract them long enough for me to reach a space-fighter and take off."

For a short moment Sapphire looked as if he wanted to contradict her and she could sense that he worried she might end up like the five people at the shrine the aliens had killed but then he nodded and she saw him disappear between the grass into another direction. Now she could only wait and hope.

As if in slow motion the vixen crept closer to her destiny. It was difficult not to get up right now and run for one of the fighters with her heart pounding way too fast in her chest and pumping all the adrenalin through her body but she knew of how vital importance it was to stay calm and keep a level head. There was no way she could get started before Sapphire had accomplished his part.

Therefore Krystal stayed ducked feeling a vague sickness in her stomach. Trying to calm her slightly shaky hands she narrowed her eyes peering through the high grass. Anxiously she was watching out for any sign to tell her that Sapphire had reached the right place and was ready to distract the aliens.

Impatiently chewing on her lip the vixen got into a better position to jump up and run just as she saw a flash of red light hit the massive metal of one of the bigger space-crafts followed by a confusion of voices and hasty footsteps of people running and looking around trying to figure out what was going on.

Her face twisted into a nervous expression of displeasure as she thought as clear as she could "I can not get there."

The next moment another red flash hit the same space-craft the first one had hit making all the aliens look into the same direction and yell around orders or obviousnesses.

This time the young vixen didn't hesitate. Soundlessly she got halfway up running for the nearest space-fighter using the high grass to camouflage her as long as possible. She could only hope the darkness of the night would do the rest to hide her from the alien's eyes.

As she was running she suddenly felt much calmer. There was no time to think or to worry but just to act.

She managed to reach the fighter unnoticed and the canopy opened for her with a low hiss. Thanks to the noise the aliens themselves produced they couldn't hear her though, and no one tried to stop her as she got into the fighter and let the canopy close again. She only hoped Sapphire was save and would make his escape without taking any further risks.

Krystal was just about to start up the engines when something completely unexpected happened. The ground beneath her started to growl and the next moment the space-fighter she was sitting in shook violently and tilted to the side.

"No, not now!" the vixen yelled before she could even notice she had actually spoken those words.

Gritting her teeth she gripped onto the controls trying to start the engines nonetheless but the fighter was flung into another direction and she heard a screech of metal as some part of it was shattered.

Krystal's head banged helplessly against the side of her cockpit making the vixen cry out in pain as her vision blackened for a moment. Reaching up to her temple she felt something sticky and warm drip. Struggling desperately to focus she tried to shake the dizziness out of her blurry mind as what she was trying to do here was way too important to allow herself and weakness.

However, she had absolutely no control over the situation anymore. The earthquake threw her around in her space-fighter like a little toy and she could hear how it was reduced to scrap-metal that wouldn't be able to take her to the shrine and liberate it.

Yet this complete physical helplessness was far from being the most terrifying about the whole situation. The fact that she was trapped in this broken down space-ship surrounded by now hostile aliens who were all armed and would find her as soon as the earthquake was over wasn't the worst part either.

What scared the vixen the most was the strange force she could now feel clearer than ever. It was incredibly strong, greedy and hungry for power, for the energy it sucked out of her home-world and while she was flung around like a doll she had to witness how her planet was dying and with it her folk.

The roaring of the ground came to an end and everything fell completely silent for a moment in which Krystal was frozen with shock. The things she had sensed were of far too crucial importance to comprehend and it was only now that it really dawned on her she had finally failed.

Her space-fighter lay half stuck in a gap that had torn open in the ground beneath it one of its wings broken off and the canopy shattered. With a groan Krystal dropped herself top the ground and crawled out of her cockpit.

The first two earthquakes hadn't been able to do any harm to the space-ships but this one had demolished a few of them making Krystal shudder as she tried not to imagine how her home-village might look like now.

Yet the only clear thought that came to her mind was that she needed to find a space-craft that was still in good enough condition to fly and get to the shrine. She couldn't let another disaster like this one happen again. Getting up from the ground the vixen looked around but she didn't get very far and before she could react too many guns were drained on her to even consider to attempt to fight.

"What are you doing here?!" a monkey yelled at her in their native language.

"Let's just shoot her down and get rid of her." a slender lizard suggested.

"Nah, she's hot. Why don't we..." another monkey contradicted him with a smirk, however, before he could finish his sentence he was shoveled aside by someone else.

"Krystal?!" Kyle exclaimed as he approached her. "What are you doing here.

Even though she knew it wasn't true the more naive part of her wanted to believe that she was save now that he was here, however, no wish for any hope to be left could make her forget the bitter truth this time. Even if he'd help her it most probably was already too late for her planet.

"Kyle!" she replied. "They are destroying Cerinia! I need to stop them! Please help me!" but as she spoke those words she could see in his face that he wasn't gonna help her save her home-world.

"I can't." he answered. "There's nothing to be done anymore." There was a vague sadness in his voice, resignation, yet it shocked her how casual, almost indifferent he sounded.

"But..." Krystal stammered shaking her head in disbelieve of the impassive tone with that he spoke those words. "They are killing everyone! There needs to be something we can do! You need to help me!"

"No, Krystal there's nothing. It's too late to save your world." he explained still with the same calmness in his voice as if it was a simple fact; but it wasn't simple. How could the death of a whole world be nothing more than a simple fact? How could the death of her world not matter to him?

Tears started streaming down the vixen's cheeks as she glared at him. "So this is all? This was all from the beginning on?" she wanted to know. "I'm... I'm a telepath. How did you prevent me from finding out? Throughout all those months? How did you hide it from me. When we... when we talked why did I never see your true intentions?"

"Krystal, I didn't know this. All I knew was that we were here to revitalize our emperor. That's why you could never read it in my mind." the iguana tried to explain but his words didn't make the feeling of betrayal and fury go away. He was nothing better than any of the other aliens because, if he were, why would he just stand here now, act as if it all didn't matter and refuse to help her save her world.

Screwing her eyes shut the vixen turned around with a snarl and tried to walk straight through the aliens who had gathered around her. She could sense how some of them took aim at her head ready to fire but at this point she just didn't care.

"No!" she hear Kyle yell but also about this she didn't care any longer. All she wanted to do right now was get away from here.

"Krystal, wait!" Kyle exclaimed as she walked away but she didn't turn round and didn't slow her pace.

"Stay here!" he said in an almost pleading manner his voice for the first time displaying emotion but as he grabbed her by the shoulder to hold her back she spun round and kneed him in the abdomen with all her strength.

"Leave me alone!" Krystal yelled at him punching him and pushing him away.

"Krystal, please listen to me!" he begged her. "You can't go now! If you go back there you will die! But you don't need to die! Please come with me!"

Once of a sudden the vixen fell completely silent. She even forgot about hitting and kicking around and then she replied in a much calmer and much more factual voice than she would have believed herself capable of just a second ago "I'll rather die than come with you." and with those words she turned around and proceeded to walk away.


	12. Apocalypse

**Crimson dusk**

**Apocalypse**

The night had ended and a new day had begun, maybe the last day the inhabitants of Cerinia would ever see. Even someone who was completely oblivious to the recent events could have told that this wasn't going to be a normal day. No one had been able to sleep the previous night both due to the knowledge that their end had come and due to the growling and shaking ground. Usually the tribe-people would only slowly wake up at this time of the day and the land would still be cooler from the night but not today for today it was blistering hot, almost too hot to breathe. The grass looked even more brown than usually and every single being in Krystal's home-village was covered in sweat.

Krystal was sitting on a broken down piece of one of the buildings they had still called home no more than a day ago but it was all gone now and had lost all importance. Next to her were her family and other people of the tribe. They had all fallen silent as there was nothing left to say. Krystal still couldn't accept that this was the end of her world, of her family, of everyone she held dear and loved and of herself. Yet she knew it was an inevitable fact. She felt like she hadn't done enough, hadn't tried hard enough but there was nothing left to do she could think of.

Not even Amber was talking now, not even she was cheerful and optimistic and like that the hours went by with the unbearable heat intensifying and the ground roaring and shaking. Krystal and the others tried to look for shelter in the shade but with the constant earthquakes it was too dangerous to sit under any object that could break down and that's why the available shade shrunk away as the sun rose to its highest position.

No matter how much they drank and looked for ways to cool their bodies down it never seemed to last for long. Krystal's skin felt too dry even a short while after she had splashed herself with water, her head hurt from the merciless sun and she could feel how the exhaustion started to get the better of her. Like that they let their last hours go by with nothing that could have brought about the slightest bit of relief.

The shadows grew longer again after countless earthquakes but the heath still didn't ease. It didn't only seem to be emitted by the sun but more by the planet itself. A few of the people had already fallen victim to the relentless temperatures and others had been killed by the shaking ground as they had been looking for shade. However, the only one Krystal could really care about right now was her sister. Amber didn't seem to be doing too well. She was lying on the ground almost motionlessly and mumbling unarticulated words in some sort of delirium. Not even Krystal's constant tries to make her drink or to cool her down by splashing her fur with water helped much as the water had become much warmer too.

Like that they had spent the past day in apathetic resignation as if they had come to terms with their fate. Yet, as they could see the immediate end close in on them, panic broke out.

The ground roared in a way they hadn't heard it roar before as a crack formed in the middle of the village glowing-red magma slowly flowing out of it. With cries and shrill shrieks everyone who could still run jumped up stumbling away from the slowly spreading out death but none of them got very far as another violent shake threw them to the ground and more gaps burst open emitting lave.

Krystal watched in horror as some of the people she knew caught fire crying and wriggling in a futile attempt to escape till nothing but smoldering blackened corpses were left of them. As she watched the planet they had called home take the lives of her folk in an inferno of heat and fire suddenly an idea formed in her head. She couldn't let her family share their fates. There was one way they could escape...

If it was still there at least.

"Follow me! I know a way out of here!" she shouted over the cries of the dying or panicky fleeing people and pulled Amber to her feet half carrying her half dragging her behind.

Amber looked up at her, for the first time in the past few hours in a halfway clear state of mind, and tried to run but her feet wouldn't carry her. Their parents and Topaz followed close behind along many of the other people of their tribe.

As fast as Amber's condition and the rumbling and growling ground allowed her Krystal proceeded through dried and dead grass but the heat and the smoke that emitted from the ground made it almost impossible to breathe. The vixen gritted her teeth desperately coughing for oxygen feeling the heat scorch her lungs with every breath she took.

She hadn't even done half the way she needed to as another earthquake shook the ground stronger and much more intense than any before. Krystal was thrown to the ground helpless like a doll unable to see what was going on through the high dead grass and unable to hear a thing but the roaring of the planet and the shrieks and cries of the people around.

Then suddenly a much louder sound than any before told her that something massive and huge was breaking apart and the cries of terror around her intensified producing a sound she'd not have believed possible. Krystal had no idea what was happening till the ground under her tilted and the soil started to slip away beneath her.

Her eyes widening in shock as she tried to get to her feet pushing Amber away from the abyss that had formed right behind her. Just at the moment the shaking ground calmed down the vixen couldn't hold herself anymore slipping towards the crack that had formed in the ground.

A shrill shriek escaped her lungs as she was dangling in the air in a futile struggle to grab hold of something that wouldn't slip away. Just as she thought her life would end the very next moment, a hand grabbed her wrist. Krystal could still hear her heart pound like mad in her ears as Sapphire pulled her up and she slumped herself to the ground for a moment trying to shake off the shock of almost dying.

He had saved her live but the relief and strange lightness she felt over it couldn't last long in this surrounding because, as the young vixen tried to get back to her feet, there was another thing she realized.

"No!" Krystal shouted as her gaze wandered over the massive gap that had formed in her planet and swallowed almost all of the people who had been with her. Tears started to form in her eyes with the realization of what had just happened. They were all gone. "Mom! Dad! Topaz!" she screamed desperately looking around to find them. They couldn't have fallen down there too! This couldn't have happened! "MOM! DAD!" she repeated screaming at the top of her lungs. "MOOOM! DAAAD! TOPAZ!" but none of them replied.

A hand took her by the shoulder softly but urgently. "C'mon. We need to go on." Sapphire told her and even though she wanted to protest and pull free from his grip the rational part of her mind told her that he was right. Trying to wipe the tears off her cheeks Krystal nodded. She was the only one who could get them off the planet. She needed to save who was still alive and grieve the dead later on.

Sapphire and Krystal helped Amber get up who was still staring at the abyss her lower jaw trembling in horror. Together they ran on but no more than 12 of the people of her tribe were still left.

Repeatedly they were thrown to the ground and each time it was harder to get up again. Two more of the people broke down unable to make it any longer but in view of her parent's and her little brother's death Krystal didn't manage to feel anything about them.

They had gotten much closer to the space-ships by now but Krystal started to feel more and more dizzy and exhausted of the unbearable temperatures and the dense smoke. Coughing for breath she stumbled on. Just a few more steps to go. She couldn't give up now. She couldn't break down now. She needed to save Amber's and Sapphire's lives. By now he was carrying Amber as the little vixen had finally lost consciousness.

"There's something I've never told you." Sapphire gasped.

"I know." the vixen replied weakly.

"Krystal... I love you."

She nodded trying to smile. "I know." she breathed. "I knew all the time... but... I am sorry I never... never realized who you really are... and what I've missed." Her mind was dull and blurred and there really wasn't much she could think off but this she knew with all her heart.

"Don't worry. We'll make it out of here and..." Sapphire tried to say...

but they didn't.

Another quake shook the planet throwing them off their feet. The hard impact on the ground caused the vixen's vision to blacken for a moment and a searing pain flashed through her head making tiny stars dance in front of her eyes. As she blinked trying to regain her senses Krystal could feel soil slip away under her hand and backed away not to fall into her death.

She had already experienced more horrors today than she'd have thought she could bear in a lifetime but seemingly not all fate had provided for her. Gaps had formed all around her, though not as big ones as the previous one, and people had fallen into them some of them still breathing and still struggling but all of her attention was drawn away from them as she realized another thing.

They had just been passing by one of the few trees that were spread out all around the grassland as the earthquake had occurred and said tree had fallen down and pierced a hole through Sapphire's stomach.

Gasping in horror Krystal crept over to him and finally the whole desolate land around her went into a blur as tears formed in her eyes she could no longer hold back. "Sapphire." she whispered barely able to speak grabbing his hand.

For one last time he opened his eyes but they looked as if he was already far far away. "Krystal" he said softly his eyes only vaguely looking into her direction. "You need to go on." and his words were cut off as he was coughing out blood.

She shook her head in despair clenching her teeth so tightly that it hurt and let her exhausted body sink to the ground next to him. "I love you too."

"You need to escape from this planet. I want you to live." Sapphire urged her shakily holding her hand for a moment before he gently pushed it away to make her understand she needed to leave.

"I don't want to live." she shook her head in disbelieve. How could all of this have happened? How could she still be alive when her heart was torn to pieces?

"Then do it for your sister. You two still got a chance." he told her his weak breath getting irregular as another flood of blood gushed out of his mouth.

Watching his eyes fall shut and his chest stop to move Krystal cried out in pain. It was all too unbearably much for her but in spite of feeling like she was torn into thousands and millions of pieces from within she knew he was right. If not for herself she needed to go on for Amber. She had already lost everything but her. She had tried to save her folk but she had failed. She had tried to save her family and she had tried to save the one she had never loved as much as he deserved till the very day of the end of their world and she had failed. Now she couldn't let her sister die too.

With the last bit of life that was still in her Krystal got back to her feet lifting Amber up. Now she had nearly reached the alien's camp or what was left of it. Most of the space-crafts were gone but a few had been left behind. She could only hope that one of them would still work.

Krystal stumbled and fell more times than she cared to count and it really didn't matter. All she knew was that each time she was thrown to her knees she needed to get back up. She needed to walk on no matter how exhausted she was, no matter how much every step hurt. There was still something she needed to protect and she would protect Amber with her life and more than that. She would never let her share the same fate as all the other people in her tribe.

Knowing that every second she wasted could cost her sister her life was the only thing that kept her going when she felt her body couldn't anymore. Holding Amber in her arms and watching her mouth open and close as she was panting for breath made the stinging pain in Krystal's lungs meaningless. It didn't matter how much her entire body hurt and it didn't matter how many times her heart had been torn apart today. All that mattered was Amber.

Krystal hadn't much hope as she finally reached her destination. None of the ships looked in good enough condition to fly. However, there was no way she'd give up at this point. She'd check every single of them and she'd find one that would safely take Amber off this dying planet.

Stubbornly the vixen went on. She started to go to every single of the space-crafts trying to find one that wasn't too damaged to take off unable to accept the futility of her efforts. There was no way she'd ever give up.

Again Krystal was thrown off her feet and fell into the dried out dead grass. The ground was shaking so violently she couldn't even get back to her knees and as she was able to look up again there were cracks all around her.

However, for a short moment the vixen paused in puzzlement. There was another sound she had heard, one that didn't come from deep within the planet. In confusion she looked up. There was a space-ship but instead of leaving the dying planet behind it appeared to approach the surface.

A faint and desperate glimmer of hope in her heart Krystal got back to her feet pressing Amber tightly against herself. She couldn't comprehend what was going on here but, if the space-ship would land, this might give her a chance to rescue her sister.

Indeed the ship touched down mere meters from her. Staggering the vixen went closer as the doors hissed open. She was in no conditions to fight if she would be attacked or if they'd deny her to come on board but this was her last chance.

For a short moment she paused as she realized who had returned to her devastated home-world. Kyle exited the space-ship. "Krystal, hurry. Come on board." he told her as he sunk to the ground. In fright she realized that there was a deep wound in his abdomen and almost black blood was gushing out of it.

"Kyle, what's going on here?" she ask completely perplexed while she was carrying Amber to the space-craft.

"Just leave this place behind." he told her instead of answering her question. "Fly to Corneria. As soon as you outside of the orbit the auto-pilot of space-ship can take you there. They got medicine to cure your sister."

Krystal knew she had very little time before the next earthquake might destroy the space-ship or even throw it into an abyss. Without further hesitation she entered her only chance to escape and carefully placed Amber on the ground. The little vixen didn't move, her head limply slumping to the side but at least Krystal could tell that she was still breathing.

Krystal didn't give much thought to what might have happened on board this ship only moments ago. Everywhere on the ground was blood not only Kyle's but also that of a monkey who apparently had been shot in the head.

She got to the controls of the ship and made the doors close, one last time looking back at the iguana who had lay down on the ground motionlessly and at the planet she once had called home. There was nothing she could do for either of them now and it surprised her how little she cared. Probably she had already felt too much today for this to bring any emotion up in her. Instead she just took off.

If there hadn't been so many more important things on her mind it would truly have astonished her how natural and easy flying felt now. Exiting the atmosphere and entering the endless void of outer-space was not a big deal but she had to hurry as Cerinia could finally get destroyed at any moment.

Krystal tried to gain distance feeling her space-ship make a jolt as the planet she had left behind exploded. However, she did sense something strange at that moment. The force she had felt intensifying with every further damage that had been done to Cerinia collapsed and vanished to the point where she could hardly sense it anymore.

Once more she looked back. There was nothing left of an once living and beautiful world that seemed to have been destroyed for absolutely nothing. The aliens hadn't achieved their goal. Their emperor had lost the strength he had gained the moment Cerinia and its spirits had ceased to exist.

Krystal turned away from the empty piece of void that had so absolutely nothing in common with the world she had lost and took a deep breath. She felt tired in a way she had never been before but she couldn't yet let herself sink to the floor and a faint voice behind her startled her out of the blurred chaos that was her mind.

"Krystal?" the voice weakly ask from behind making her instantly turn towards Amber and walk over to her to sit down next to her.

"We've made it." Krystal assured her but in view of all she had lost today she couldn't even feel relieved.

Amber smiled tiredly as she opened up her big eyes to look at her sister. "Yes. You have made it." Amber replied making Krystal's heart stop for a moment as she looked into her eyes. They were dull and distant in a way Krystal had never seen them before.

"Amber?" she ask in shock her voice turning into a sob. Her eyes looked much like Sapphire's had done only a moment before all life had disappeared from them.

Amber let her eyes fall shut again trying to steady her breath. She looked peaceful and completely at ease the way she lay there and yet it was a horrible sight to watch her smile in acceptance of the inevitable. "It's alright." the little vixen breathed. "We always knew this would happen."

"Amber, no. You have to stay with me." Krystal pleaded. There was nothing left but Amber. Krystal had nothing else to lose but her and she couldn't bear losing her too. She couldn't let this happen.

"Yes." Amber nodded. "I'll always stay with you, Krystal. Just think of me and I'll be there with you but I have to leave this body behind. Don't worry. We'll find a way. Time goes on and so will you."


	13. Epilogue

**Crimson Dusk**

**Epilogue**

When Krystal awoke she couldn't possibly tell how much time had passed. She didn't really feel awake either but still in a strange dreamlike state. Way too much had happened for her to comprehend. Her world had died, her folk had died and her family had died. Presumably she was the only one left of her kind floating somewhere in space with everything gone she had ever been a part of.

Slowly the vixen got up wiping her disheveled hair out of her face. Her eyes still hurt from all the smoke and tears they had been exposed to and she was swaying a little but she wouldn't let herself fall to the ground again. She had failed. She had lost everything but, though she couldn't imagine how, she knew she needed to go on. Her family wouldn't want her to give up her life. Sapphire wouldn't want her to give up and most of all Amber wouldn't want her to give up; Even Kyle who had been unknowingly involved in her planet's destruction.

Still a little drowsy the vixen sat down on a chair looking at the many screens of the space ship. In spite of this feeling of being completely lost and helpless she actually knew what to do. She needed to find a nearby planet she could bury her sister on. In the end she hadn't managed to do more than that but at least this she could do for her and then...

Krystal would lie if she claimed she had no plan. Even though she hadn't been completely aware of it she had known what to do the moment her home-world had exploded and the Venomian emperor had lost his strength again. It was quite obvious he wouldn't give up that easily. After all they had done, Krystal was pretty sure the Venomians would try again. Having nothing else to lose Krystal knew which path she'd choose.

She'd not let any other world share the fate of Cerinia. She didn't know how to but somehow she'd find out what exactly had happened to her home-world and she would prevent it from happening to anyone ever again.

Looking at a map of the solar-system Cerinia was a part of and at another one of the Lylat-System the vixen sighed sadly. She remembered the day she had been on the beach with Kyle. She had been so carefree and happy back then and yet she had been given an important piece of information she shouldn't have ever needed to make any use of. Kyle had told her that there was another planet much like Cerinia that had spirits similar to those of Cerinia. As the aliens had failed this was where she assumed they'd head and thus this was where her way would lead her. At least it was her safest guess and somewhere she needed to start.


End file.
